°Heh sorry for the sudden break but some questions have to wait until a certain time°
"You can just say it the next time, it's no big deal"
"Suho's right, don't give us false hope!" They paid attention to the screen now.
In the middle of the night, I got out of my room. The handgun in my pocket rattled uncomfortably, but I couldn't do anything about it without a holster.
My destination was the shooting range.
"Is he going to train at this hour?" Most cadets were sleeping at the moment and they were watching the exception going to train or try his new gift and stats. (sarcasm right here guys!)
Located east of dorm 1, the shooting range was a dome shaped building consisting of 20 training rooms. The targets were oddly distributed around where the sharpshooter would stand. This was because unlike bullets, magic arrows could easily change their trajectory.
[Rank 934, Kim Hajin, confirmed.]
When held my smartwatch against the shooting range's entrance, an unfamiliar robotic voice called my name. Indeed, my name had changed from Kim Chundong to Kim Hajin. Feeling a bit odd, I walked inside.
"So it changed like he never got called Chundong?" Yeah that was odd and a little surprising but the atmosphere was not the best it could be right now after their little discovery. Yoo Yeonha was a bit disappointed, Shin Jonghak and Chae Nayun were suppressing their jealousy and resentment while Kim Suho and Rachel got rid of the negative emotions quickly.
Past the wide circular lobby, there were ten doors evenly separated from each other. I held up my smartwatch against one of them.
[Rank 934, Kim Hajin, confirmed.]
The door opened.
The shooting range looked simple. At the center of the 130-square-meter circular space was a scaffolding for the shooter. I walked towards the center. When I placed my feet on the low scaffolding, a courteous robotic voice rang out from the ceiling.
[Initializing targets. Choose the number of targets you want.]
[You must choose at least 2 and can choose at most 20.]
"Ten."
'He's reasonable'
My voice rang through, and insect-like blue objects popped up from the ground.
I looked at the targets surrounding me. A monster that was barely considered a monster, mole cricket. They were similar to mole crickets everyone knew, the only difference being that they were much bigger.
[Choose your training difficulty.]
[You can choose from stage 1 to stage 9.]
Higher level naturally meant targets moved quicker. At stage 9, the targets even attacked. Although the attacks should only sting at best, they were extremely dangerous to me.
"Stage 4."
"He's starting average that's good" they knew that he only wanted to test his gift but it was still good at his stage.
First, I set the difficulty to stage 4 and loaded my magic bullets. If I was skilled in handling magic power, I should be able to compress magic power into bullets without having to get physical bullets, but the current me didn't have such talents. And even if I could do such a thing, using a bow was much more destructive and efficient.
"Start."
First, I notified the system to start and aimed my gun at the leftmost target.
The slowly moving mole cricket seemed to have noticed my hostility as it began to speed up. It scuttled around without a set movement pattern, but I could see its trajectory. It was like I was seeing an afterimage, but of its future path.
Predicting its movement by a step, I pulled the trigger.
"Ugh that's annoying to know that he has this kind of ability and he had even the right to choose it" complains were heard even in the silence as if they were using telepathy.
A blue flare shot up from the barrel. There was no loud noise like the guns from Earth. Leaving the barrel silently, the bullet should pierce the mole cricket.
I didn't bother to check the result with my eyes. The moment the bullet went out, I moved on to the next target and fired. My hand moved on its own.
One, two, three, four... ten.
The trigger was pulled ten times, and the mole crickets that were struck scattered into particles of mana.
Only two targets survived.
"It's still impressive for a start" said Yeonha admiring Hajin's abylity.
"Oho."
I was quite impressed.
Just by writing a Gift, I managed to hit all the mole crickets other than the farthest two.
[Your training ended. Elapsed time: 1.37 seconds. Sharpshooting score: 80/100]
In just 1.37 seconds.
"Well that's impressive" Rachel murmured quietly but enough to be heard by everyone in the room.
"I too would have this kind of talent if this world let me choose my gift" said Nayun with both jealousy and sarcasm in her tone.
"... This is pretty fun."
"Tch-" managed to say Jonghak after all this. (not them being Hajin haters right now except for Suho and Rachel ╥﹏╥ )
An eternal truth. The better you are at something, the more fun it is. It was fun because you were good at it.
Feeling like I was at an arcade, I shouted 'start' once more.
'He's really going to enjoy himself like that the rest of the night?' asked Suho in his mind, it was a rare sight to see Hajin enjoying something and he quiet enjoyed it.
*
An eternal truth. No matter how fun something is, doing it twenty times makes it boring.
At about 3 A.M., I stopped my shooting practice. After getting out of the shooting room, I was relaxing my sore finger when I heard a noise next door.
—whoosh whoosh whoosh
The faint sound of shockwaves. It was the sound of arrows cutting through the air. The source was the room next door. Curious, I snuck a peek. I shouldn't have been able to see anything because of the closed door, but I could see through it.
"Is it the thousand mile eyes or something that allows him to see through doors?" asked Yeonha.
"Well that seems like it doesn't let us much privacy in any case" said Nayun before turning her head like she was pouting.
The door turned faint and the interior revealed itself.
The scene beyond the door was showing why bows were superior to guns.
"It's Chae Nayun."
Chae Nayun couldn't suppress the faint blush on her cheek thinking about Hajin seeing her while training as he hides himself behind the door.
Chae Nayun was target practicing with a serious face. Four arrows were sitting on her bow. They were magic arrows weaved with magic power. Because her magic power technique was currently lacking, she couldn't perform 'split shot', which multiplied a single arrow into multidirectional shots.
—Whoosh!
Chae Nayun let go of the bowstring. Her arrows left behind a blue trace of magic power as they hurled towards the 20 targets. As though they were alive, her arrows obliterated the targets.
"... Amazing."
I exclaimed in shock.
"Is he Nayun's fanboy?" Yeonha said it in a teasing tone especially targetting a reaction from her friend and Jonghak.To her surprise, she got a glare from her and Suho. She turned another time at the screen surprised by what she had just witnessed and couldn't restrain a liitle smirk from her lips. (ouh la la~ (ㆆ ᴗ ㆆ) )
Still, Chae Nayun's real aptitude wasn't for bows. There was a weapon that suited her much more. But if she was already that amazing with a bow, just what kind of a setting did I make?
"Oh so I got a little bit of favoritism like Suho!" exclaimed Nayun with a wide smile. It seems like she forgot about Kim Hajin's settings after reading that line.
At that moment, Chae Nayun suddenly turned around. Her eyes met mine. Though there was no way she could see me through the wall, something still seemed odd.
I quickly escaped.
*
[Sharpshooting training increases your Gift's proficiency by 3%].
[Repeated sharpshooting training increases your Gift's proficiency by 2.9%]
['Luck' applies! Your perception and speed increase by 0.1!]
[Repeated sharpshooting training increases your Gift's proficiency by 2.8%]
Gloom could be felt across the cadet's figures in the dark of the room.
...
...
The above messages were written on the laptop. Master Sharpshooter's proficiency shot up, and the stats I gained with luck were an added bonus.
Thanks to the Gift's grade being low, I had already gained 50% in proficiency EXP. Achieving grade 9 didn't seem to difficult.
"Don't feel the need to brag about these things with us" Jonghak finally spoke but that was too out of the blue.
===
▷「Master Sharpshooter」
[Low-intermediate rank] [Spirit attribute] [Evolving — Grade 10] [Proficiency EXP 50%]
—Master Sharpshooter's Training
*Familiarity with all long ranged weapons
—Thousand-Mile Eyes
*Can see far away and somewhat predict target's movement path.
—Bullet Time
*In combat only and once every 24 hours, you can spend 3 seconds in 'Bullet Time'.
===
"I still thonk it's too much for a gift" Yeonha spoke...
The more I thought about it, the better this Gift seemed, especially in how it applied to 'all long ranged weapons'. Currently, it was easier to raise proficiency with a gun than a bow, but since a bow was stronger, I would have to switch to it eventually.
"He talked about Nayun being better at something else than the bow. Is it why he tried to make you hold a sword?" Suho asked and earned the attention of everyone else. If what he said was true, that would explain why he started this whole bet and things he said before that to make her switch weapon.
"But what's up with the SP?"
[You obtained 0.2 SP!]
[You obtained 0.2 SP!]
[An auspicious gift! You obtained 1 bonus SP.]
[You obtained 0.2 SP]
...
After practicing for twenty rounds, I only obtained 5 SP. Choosing a gun as my main weapon gave me 64 SP, meaning showing off and standing out gave more SP than quietly training.
"Tsk."
"Ha! This guy has to show up for SP and he tries to avoid attention?" 'well, good luck!' he didn't have the best settings for his personality but they knew Hajin was quick at adapting to situations, it didn't seem like a problem to them.
Although I only received a tiny bit of SP, I still had a use for it.
The dreaded combat training was tomorrow. To obtain even the tiniest amount of points, I needed to make up for my lacking physical abilities.
The biggest problem was stamina. Because I threw all my points into luck, I was weaker than an ordinary person.
"Oh, that's why he was this slow the first time I met him" Yeonha couldn't stop herself from making this comment. It did affect her the time when she wa classed lower than Nayun with her team.
===
[Training Sneakers]
—Specially crafted sneakers.
*Adds 0.3 points into stamina and speed.
===
"Maybe with this..."
The easiest way to fix my problem was with equipment.
I began to tap on the keyboard.
===
[Mystical Training Sneakers]
—Specially crafted sneakers. Contains a mystical power.
*Adds 0.3 points into stamina and speed.
*Enhances energy and stamina recovery.
===
"That's shameless of him" Nayun had some problem to accept all these... privileges? that were accorded to Hajin and found his demands more and more exagerated.
[You do not have enough SP.]
'Ha!' thought Jonghak after reading the last line. He didn't want to believe that a nobody like Kim Hajin had that much privileges compared to them [him].
But this time, the modification I made was canceled without being adjusted.
I wasn't too surprised. After all, I only had 5 SP.
But it was still too early to give up.
===
[Mystical Training Sneakers]
—Specially crafted sneakers. Contains a mystical power.
*Adds 0.3 points into stamina and speed.
*When the wearer desires, energy and stamina recovery is enhanced for 1 hour. After use, this effect cannot be used again for 24 hours. This 'effect' disappears after one month.
===
To save SP, I put a total of three restrictions. A 24 hour cooldown time, one-hour effect duration, and effect dissipation after one month.
[You used 5 SP. Would you like to save?]
"It should take more than 5 SP" cried Nayun out.
"Nah I think it's weak compared to his first demand" responded Yeonha. She was right, it was a drastic change from what he typed the first time.
"Oh! It worked!"
I hit the Enter key ecstatically.
Immediately, a blue light flashed from the laptop. The dancing light melted into the sneakers, and a streak of color was branded onto the white sneakers.
"He's too lucky for this world and uses too many cheat codes." complains Nayun at the end of the chapter.Are we reacting now or you've forgotten about us already?" asked Nayun appearing a bit irritated.
°Sorry! Try to write an entire paragragh in arabic and then we can talk°
"You're arabic?" asked Yeonha at her turn.
°.....No? Whatever let's react°
'Outcall' – a magic power explosion that occurred 50 years ago and shook the world. Following this event, mysterious entities like Towers, Dungeons, and monsters began to appear in the world. These existences of chaos shook the very foundation of humanity. The blue planet of humans turned into hell. Monsters devoured humans, and Towers and Dungeons ceaselessly produced monsters like factories.
'So he started his novel like that..' ran into everyone's mind after reading the first line.
In front of these newfound calamities, humanity's science and technology lost their meaning. Society collapsed and the rule of law returned to the law of the jungle. Survivors of the tragedy crumbled to their instincts, losing the virtues that made them human.
Within this hellfire, Heroes emerged shining stars.
'Ah yes, the famous introduction of the heroes' thought Nayun.
With transcendental powers, they corrected the chaos. The world was reconstructed just as quickly as it collapsed. Using Gifts bestowed by heaven, they brought about miracles with a flicker of their hands. With their help, humanity recovered their lost virtue, joining the Heroes with revitalized technology and science. 'Magic science' and 'magic engineering' was thus born.
"Noooo, that's just history class! Get this out of my face! I don't need to re-learn all that!" cried Nayun out even though that was what they all were thinking about, even Rachel. You can't blame them, I keep hating over history class.
°Do you want me to skip to the interesting parts?°
"Yes please." responded Suho on everyone's behalf.
°Your wish is my command°
[...]
Even as the author, there was too much information to process. Thankfully, it didn't pose much of a problem for me, all thanks to my gift 'Observation and Reading.'
"What does this skill procure him in class?" asked Suho but the answer was never heard. 'I knew it' was what Jonghak thought after the lack of response.
[On August 17th, 2023, the Apostle of Saints conquered the Tower of Floods and obtained an ocean stone.]
Whenever I looked at something, I could get the information about it, so I had nothing to worry about.
"Ayo... what...?" said Nayun dazed by the last sentence.
"You're tellng us that he only has to see the question to have the answer appear to know it?" Yeonha couldn't believe her eyes. She was on Nayun's behalf the more she read about Hajin's abilities.
"Huu..."
On the other hand, the girl sitting in front of me scratched her head and sighed.
Looking at the character I made, I couldn't help but laugh.
Chae Nayun hated studying. She had the ability to take the number one spot among female cadets, but because written exams were holding her down, she had to give up the first place seat to Rachel. Even if she gnashed her teeth in mortifying defeat, written exams were still too much of a hurdle for her.
"Wait. He laughed at me!" accused Nayun flabberghasted. Suho was trying to hold her in her seats calmly but Jonghak started speaking.
"Stop touching her! She has the right to complain, this nobody just laughed at her!" he was accusing Hajin at the moment but sat down after getting calmed down by Yeonha who didn't want the situation to degenerate.
At that moment, Chae Nayun turned her head halfway towards me. Her curt eyes glared at the person sitting behind her – me. She must have heard my laughter. After all, Sharpshooters had keen senses.
"I don't remember but I accept the compliment" scoffed Nayun with a faint blush on her cheeks.
I pretended to be calm as I lowered my head and focused on taking notes. Chae Nayun clicked her tongue and faced back front.
The lesson continued.
Places with high mana density, monster behavior, Djinns on the wanted list...
The bell rang only after two hours had passed.
"Make sure to go back and read the notes you took today. Otherwise, you'll cry on the exam."
"This teacher just doesn't understand how useless are written exams if we want to become heroes." said Jonghak.
The grey-haired professor wearing round eyeglasses left with those words.
"Argh, so annoying, why do I have to learn all this? Written exams are so annoying."
"That's just what I said" affirmed Jonghak.
"Shut up" responded Nayun to this man showing up.
Chae Nayun began to complain the moment the professor left. However, her face was full of smiles. It was most likely because of the next class.
Anti-monster combat training.
Just like its name suggested, it was combat training against monsters. The monsters used in the lesson were mana puppets, but their appearance and destructive power were faithful to the real thing. Of course, they were weaker than their real counterparts, but there was a high chance of getting injured.
I was scared.
"Wa, I didn"t know that Hajin was that easily scared" commented Yeonha.
"Me too" responded Suho happy to better understand their friend.
They earned some chuckle from Nayun and Rachel as they laughed themselves.
"We're meeting at the field in 20 minutes!"
A loud voice rang out in the classroom. I turned towards the voice.
Oval face, small gentle eyes, and a muscular body that didn't match his face. It was Kim Suho's supporter, Yi Yeonghan. Knowing the conflict between Kim Suho and Shin Jonghak, the instructor in charge of the classroom chose Yi Yeonghan to be the class president.
"Ehew."
I just hoped it wouldn't hurt.
"Seems like he had no idea back then." It was still hard to process Hajin's personality when he wasn't with them.
*
After a 20 minute break, everyone from the Veritas class gathered at the Novice Field. With 100 people here, it seemed quite crowded. The cadets were sharing their half-nervous half-excited expectations with their friends, but I was alone. Only I was alone.
"Fuck..."
"He knew what was waiting for him and got scared" scoffed Nayun. It seemed like Hajin somehow understood that if he didn't have a sparing partner, he was going against the instructor. That earned him some 'ouch-' from Jonghak, Nayun and Yeonha with smirks on their faces while Suho and Rachel lookes worried for their fellow friend.
While I was wallowing in loneliness, the instructor, Kim Soohyuk, showed up.
The cadets immediately stood in ten columns in front of him.
"I'm sure you all know what this lesson is about, so I'll announce the teams without explanation. Unless something special happens, this team will be the same until after the midterms."
Team formation. The cadets grew restless at the exciting yet nerve-wracking process.
"It wasn't so bad" said Nayun and she got a glare from Yeonha who wasn't satisfied with the formation but was grateful to at least know now Hajin's capabilities.
A team generally consisted of five members – two warriors, one sharpshooter, one supporter, and one utility player. Warriors were usually close range combatant like spearman or swordsman, sharpshooters were the long ranged attacker, and supporters were people like Yoo Yeonha and Yi Yeonghan who attacked themselves or supported the main attackers.
'He truly knows everything about us' noticed Rachel from her perspective.
Finally, the utility player was generally the magician's position, so it was excluded until the first year ended. When a magician was added, the supporter would have an additional role in protecting the magician. After all, magicians were important.
"Does he know some good magicians since he created this world." asked Rachel to Suho. The question was asked with a so low voice that he barely understood it.
"I guess so?" murmured at his turn. He can't give her a proper answer but it was kinda logical for the answer to be positive?
My role here was a bit iffy. Roles were assigned based on the main weapon we chose, and while I wasn't a warrior, I was too lacking to be a sharpshooter. Guns had a much shorter range than bows, and guns were weaker compared to melee weapons that could attack from afar.
"He at least admitted it, I'm better than him" Nayun tried to make herself look superior to Hajin with her hard won talent at the bow but she only got a sarcastic answer from Yeonha that went like "Didn't he won your bet?" that shut her mouth right the instant she received it.
[Sharpshooter (long range) — Rank 4 Chae Nayun, Rank 9 Im Yeongjin... Rank 934 Kim Hajin, Rank 945 Oh Jiyun]
In any case, it seemed I was assigned as a sharpshooter.
Kim Soohyuk announced.
"Team members will be selected fairly. Lower ranked cadets will be paired with higher ranked cadets."
Cube's training classes were administered by the artificial intelligence developed by the Great Sage. As a result, there was no room for corruption or persuasion.
I could see the pitiful result with my own eyes.
[Team 1]
[Kim Suho / Kim Lang]
[Sung Seung-Un / Paine]
[Team 2]
[Demian / Rosen]
[Chun Lee / Chae Nayun]
...
...
[Team 5]
[Jin Hoseung / Hazuki]
[Kim Hajin / Yoo Yeonha]
"..."
Looking at my assigned team, I became lost for words.
Yoo Yeonha.
Yoo Yeonha was on my team. In my novel, she was one of the most loved and hated character.
"Why was I hated? I didn't do anything wrong at what I know!" Yeonha whined at the unfair judgement and started to think at how Hajin had wrote her to be loved and hated at the same time.
Looking around, I met her eyes. Her jewel-like eyes flashed with deep contempt and disdain. But that was only for a moment. By the time I blinked once, the negative feeling in her eyes was gone.
Surprisingly, she walked towards me with a smile. Her long hair fluttered with each of her dignified steps. Her beautiful lips moved modestly.
"It's nice to meet you."
"Ah, um, I..."
"Hoseung-ssi."
But I wasn't the one Yoo Yeonha greeted. Meeting her eye was also my imagination. She was talking to the guy standing behind me.
"Not good from you Yeonha." said Suho as a reproch while Rachel agreed with him, Nayun and Jonghak only shrugged.
"Ah, hello."
"Weren't we on the same team before?"
She talked too politely for a 17-year-old, but that was how Yoo Yeonha liked to keep her distance.
"Yes? Ah, right, haha."
After exchanging just two sentences, Jin Hoseung broke out in a cold sweat. Yoo Yeonha was difficult to talk to, and it wasn't just because of her background and insane personality. Yoo Yeonha and Shin Jonghak were a couple officially, but not unofficially. At this point, it should be more like a one-sided crush from Yoo Yeonha.
Uneasyness could be felt in the room Yeonha tried to suppress the sad feeling coming from her heart as she gazed again the screen.
"Ah, Hazuki-ssi is coming too."
"Hello..."
Like his name suggested, Hazuki was a Japanese cadet. She walked over with eyes that looked like she was about to cry. Yoo Yeonha glanced at her slightly displeased, then spoke.
"Who's the other person?"
"It's me."
Yoo Yeonha didn't like people who lacked confidence and self-esteem. As such, I stepped up confidently. Hazuki and Jin Hoseung turned towards me first.
"Uh..."
Hazuki tilted her head as though she didn't know who I was.
"Ah, the guy who chose a gun."
"He's so popular, still not in a good way" said Yeonha after a moment.
"Seriously? He's known as the gun guy. That's kinda sad." (that was so true at the beginning of the novel but then he became Fenrir ( ˘▽˘)っ)
When Jin Hoseung mentioned my previous feat, I checked Yoo Yeonha's expression. Unexpectedly, she didn't show any emotion. But that was even more frightening.
"Slowly Yeonha! You're scaring him!" managed to pull out Nayun while laughing. The rest of the room chuckled while Yoo Yeonha only pouted.
At that moment, Kim Soohyuk shouted loudly.
"There's no time for chitchat. You should have gotten the coordinate and information of the monster you'll need to kill on your smartwatch. Get going!"
A total of 25 teams. Including the other classes that joined in, there was a total of 100 teams.
Our mission was to head to the coordinate given to us and kill the monster there.
We were then ranked based on how quickly and how safely we completed our mission.
Wiing—
As soon as the instructor's voice rang out, Yoo Yeonha projected her smartwatch to the air.
[Blackhump Octopus 37° 31' 32" N]
The monster's name and coordinate were written there.
Yoo Yeonha spoke tersely.
"Let's go. We can talk while we're moving."
'Not again!' thought Yeonha as she prepared herself to revive the same scene as that one time. Hajin was incredibly slow!
*
I was running through a field. Beyond this ocean of golden reeds should be the black hump octopus.
But running was extremely difficult due to my horrible physical stats. The sneakers I made last night seemed useless. Its one-hour duration had not run out, but my stamina had already bottomed out.
In the end, I fell down while running, and the team stopped because of me.
"It's fine. What matters is whether or not we can kill the monster."
Seeing me gasping for breath on the ground, Jin Hoseung said as he handed me a bottle of water.
"He's right. Apparently, this is common when you work with magicians."
"At least your partners are optimistic Yeonha~" said Nayun to mock her dear friend who shot her a glare to after roll her eyes from annoyance.
Hazuki also consoled me with her mediocre Korean.
I was thankful, but I was checking for Yoo Yeonha's reaction the most.
Contrary to my expectations, she didn't seem too displeased. She was simply sitting modestly on the ground, reading information about the black hump octopus on her watch.
I also pulled up the necessary information from my head.
===
[Blackhump Octopus]
—low-intermediate rank monster
—Special features
*The main body isn't strong, but numerous baby octopuses pop out from the hump on its head. As dozens pop out at once, it isn't easy to deal with them. Baby octopuses can suck human blood and turn them into mummies in just one second. They are classified as low rank monsters.
—Strategy
*Eliminate all baby octopuses. Alternatively, destroy the black hump where the main body's magic power is created.
—Weakness
*Black hump
—Strength
*Suction cups and baby octopuses
===
"Ugh- Nearly forgot he was the one who created that monster" said Jonghak in an annoyed tone.
Perhaps because I was the one who wrote the setting for the black hump octopus, a thorough information on the monster came out.
"I'll deal with the babies while you two take care of the main body."
Soon, Yoo Yeonha turned off her smartwatch and said to Hazuki and Jin Haseung.
Ah, I get it now.
"He's more quickwitted than fast what a shame." added Yeonha taking her past actions as a revenge against Hajin for the humiliation she felt in this room.
Yoo Yeonha was acting like I didn't exist. I was at the same level as air, which was why she didn't reprimand me or seem displeased.
"He understand his place more than anyone else." Jonghak smirked from the information on the screen.
"... Let's go now."
Offended by her treatment, I forced myself to get up. Thanks to my sneakers, my stamina had recovered.
"To be honest, I didn't know that he could feel offended since he always shows the same calm expression." said Rachel. Hajin never showed any unecessary emotions or reactions on his face.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah. I'll go first. Hup!"
I ran ahead of them. Compared to when I was on Earth, I was much quicker.
But exactly 10 seconds later.
I found myself far behind the other three.
"That was expected and his Earth seems to be boring"
°Hey! It's just that you're too self absorbed about being a hero!°
"And you're showing up now?!"