Hunter Academy: Revenge of the Weakest - Chapter 23

Chapter 23: Chapter 5.3 – Following Day
Entering the shooting range’s dome-shaped building, I was greeted by the familiar robotic voice that confirmed my identity as Astron Natusalune. With my smartwatch in hand, I proceeded to one of the ten doors that led to the training rooms.

As I entered the training room, I found myself standing at the center of a circular space with scaffolding for the shooter. The room was simple, yet its magic-infused targets added an intriguing twist to the usual shooting range experience.

I held up my smartwatch once more to initialize the targets. “Five,” I said firmly. In an instant, insect-like blue objects emerged from the ground, forming a ring of mole crickets around me. They were larger than normal mole crickets, resembling monsters more than mere insects.

“Now, let’s see how these mole crickets fare against me,” I muttered to myself, a hint of excitement in my voice.

<Choose your training difficulty.>

<You can choose from stage 1 to stage 9.>

Considering my current strength and the potential of my trait, I decided to challenge myself and selected stage 1. No matter how I was or how my trait helped me, it didn’t matter. After all, I was just a beginner at bows. A

“Stage 1,” I mumbled.

In an instant, insect-like blue objects emerged from the ground, forming a ring of mole crickets around me. They were larger than normal mole crickets, resembling monsters more than mere insects.

I readied my bow and nocked an arrow, focusing on the moles. Tensing my muscles and repeating the posture she had shown me, I aimed at the mole.

/SWOOSH/

With a fast speed, the mole moved; however, to my eyes, it was rather slow. Thanks to my trait [Perceptive Insight], it was easy for me to see his movements, as I was able to read where he was going to move from his body movements alone.

‘Let me test the strength of my normal arrows first.’

I thought and fired a normal arrow without any type of enhancement.

/SWSIH/ /THUD/

The arrow found its target without much difficulty since this was the first stage. However, it didn’t kill it since my skills needed time to improve. The arrow hit the mole from his legs.

/SWOOSH/

Firing another, this time, I managed to hit him from his chest, making it disappear.

‘I feel like I am getting a grasp of this.’ I thought to myself. The first arrow was missed since I felt like I was not properly holding the bow, but the second time, I felt like I was able to hit it.

/SWOOSH/

The moles approached me at a rapid speed as they didn’t stop by their kin’s death. Even though they were just made from pure mana, it still felt a bit disgusting.

Just like that, I kept firing arrows until no moles were left on the ground.

“Huff… That was not bad..” I thought to myself. Even though it was my first time using a bow and my posture was as bad as possible, thanks to my unique eyesight, it was not that hard for me to destroy the first stage.

<Ding! Stage one shooting training completed. New record: 1 minute 32 seconds.>

Seeing the panel before me, I looked at the bow. ‘Then let’s try the second stage.’ I thought to myself as I raised the difficulty.

<Choose your training difficulty.>

“Stage 2.”

This time in an instant, another five moles appeared before me, but this time they had a rather stronger aura surrounding them.

I focused my energy and infused the arrow with moon energy through my trait [Lunar Enigma]. As I released the arrow, it glowed with a silvery-blue aura, streaking through the air with increased speed and accuracy.

/SWOOSH/ /THWACK/

The enhanced arrow pierced through one of the charging moles, causing it to vanish in a flash of silvery-blue light.

The remaining moles kept coming, and I continued firing, each shot precise and powerful thanks to the lunar energy imbued in the arrows. As I hit each target, I could feel the moon’s energy coursing through me, guiding my aim and enhancing my abilities.

It was a weird feeling that I didn’t get while using the dagger, like the moonlight energy itself was guiding me on how to enhance my arrows and how to apply my mana around them.

/SWOOSH/ /THWACK/

The enhanced arrow pierced through one of the charging moles, causing it to vanish in a flash of silvery-blue light.

The remaining moles kept coming, and I continued firing, each shot precise and powerful thanks to the lunar energy imbued in the arrows. As I hit each target, I could feel the moon’s energy coursing through me, guiding my aim and enhancing my abilities.

Despite their increased strength, the moles couldn’t match my newfound sharpshooting skills and the empowering effects of my trait. Soon, the last mole disappeared, and the training room fell silent.

<Ding! Stage two shooting training completed. New record: 1 minute 10 seconds.>

I looked at the panel, satisfied with my progress. My time had improved significantly from the first stage, and it was all thanks to [Lunar Enigma].

<Ding! Stage two shooting training completed. New record>

<Ding! Stage two…>

<Ding….

<Ding….

With each training session, I could feel myself growing stronger and more in tune with the moon’s power; I felt like I was rather more talented in this type of field. My gaze and my attention never lost its focus.

The dagger was also a good weapon, and I think my talent in that field is also not that bad, but seeing this now being a ranger suits me more.

‘Astron had never considered using a bow, but it seems this was what I was talented at most.’ I thought, seeing the fluently moving body.

Even though I had yet to acquire any art related to bow, the occupation [Weapon Master] was doing its work.

‘But, let’s not assume things. I should also try the gun now.’ With that thought, I left the training room, making my way toward the receptionist section once again.

‘She is still there.’ There I could see that Lilia was training there with her bow. Beads of sweat were pouring down from her face.

/SWOOSH/

And just as I was passing by, suddenly, an arrow passed through the dummies.

/BOOM/

Followed by an explosion of fire.

‘Ho… So she can use this skill even now.’

It was a skill named [Explosive Shot]. A simple skill that imbues one’s arrow with a fire attribute.

Passing beside her, I reached the receptionist and grabbed the gun.

It was a simple weapon with the design of a Glock. A pretty basic weapon for most people to use, it had a low recoil and a pretty fast shoot rate.

Returning to the room, I passed the same ten doors reaching the private training grounds.

<How many targets do you wish to have?>

“Eight.”

<Which difficulty do you wish to use?>

“Stage 2.”

<Understood.>

The moment the process was finished, eight moles appeared beside me.

I raised the gun aiming at the monsters while moving my mana to enhance the bullets inside the gun.

‘Now, there is no need to test the damage of the weapon.’ I thought. After all, a Glock’s base damage was enough to shut down Stage 1 monsters in one shot.

But that wasn’t the case for stage 2.

As a player that played the game with guns once, or at least tried to, I knew the base damage guns had. It was enough to one-shot Stage 1 but not enough to one-shot the Stage 2 monsters.

Feeling the cold metallic feeling on my hands, I knew the weapon was there for me to use.

As I focused my mana, infusing the bullets inside the gun with moon energy, I quickly fired at the charging moles.

A Glock’s firing rate could change from person to person since the pistol doesn’t have a full-automatic fire mode.

That meant one thing, with each bullet, I needed to push the trigger.

/SWOOSH/ /SWOOSH/

The monsters moved at a rapid rate same as before, but the moving pattern was different. However, my trait allowed me to have great eyesight as I press the trigger at a rapid speed.

/TICK/ /TICK/ /TIKC/

The gun’s fast shooting rate allowed me to unleash a barrage of shots in rapid succession. Each bullet hit its mark with precision, causing the moles to disappear one after another in flashes of blue light.

The enhanced bullets proved to be a game-changer. The moles were no match for the power of [Lunar Enigma], and they fell before me as I maintained my steady aim. The gun’s low recoil made it easy to control, and I felt like I was dancing between the moles, firing with deadly accuracy.

/SWOOSH/ /THWACK/ /SWOOSH/ /THWACK/

In just three seconds of time, the eight moles were gone, and the training room fell silent once more. I looked at the panel where a new record had been set.

<Ding! Stage two shooting training completed. New record: 3 seconds.>

It was a lot different from the bow. The speed of shooting was fast.

‘But, the disparity will show itself the amount of mana one can imbue on the gun’s bullet.’

I thought. There made the difference between a bow and a gun. One could imbue an arrow made from special metals with a huge amount of mana, or they could even conjure an arrow made from pure mana, but that wasn’t the case for the gun.

Or that was never seen before.

‘The gun looks pretty smooth. I need to apply for an additional weapon test now.’

I thought. Since the academy didn’t allow students to blindly change weapons or study with different weapons. One needed to take a talent test for each weapon they wanted to use.

That was what made students stay on one simple weapon at the end. Since passing the test was not easy at all….

Just like that, my day went on as I kept training and training….