Azure: Gunner

“What’s up my listeners?! This is the Voice of the People, coming at you live here on K-RAD, the only radio station that brings you the stone cold truth! It’s bright and early and time to kick the fucking day off right with some hot tunes!

Let’s set the day on fire right out of the gate with an underground classic, Glory Ain’t Knocking!”

- DJ Demophon Kerner, on K-RAD LA, April 4th, System Year 453

Mason’s idea of light training was what I’d call an exhausting day. We started off with more drills like the training I’d done with Raylan the previous – shit, was it really just yesterday morning? So much has happened since then… Unlike the day before, when we’d stopped so that we could get on the road, we just kept going.

Hassan ran me completely out of mana shooting bread-tiles at Raylan, then had us spar sword-vs-knife again – though this time I had somewhat of an advantage as Raylan was very low on stamina after the first set of drills. Hassan claimed it would toughen him up, and he didn’t object even when I tried to get Hassan to let him rest up a bit first.

“I need to be better, Az,” he said with a serious look. “You and Zaire did most of the damage in there. I should have been able to hold my own against that Chieftain or at least let you get a clean shot without needing to take the hit I did.” He held up his arm, which looked fine after Vale’s attention. There was a thin, barely visible scar around the edge of where he’d been cut.

I didn’t agree, exactly, but when I started to object again Hassan cut me off.

“Tell me, Azure, how you’d feel if you had been the one with the knives, fighting the orc and taking the cut. Would you be content with your performance?”

That put a halt to my complaints. I was smart enough to realize that I’d feel the same way Raylan did in his situation.

Actually, I do feel the same way. I should have been able to make the shot without needing him to get the orc to hold still. I’d better help him train as much as he helps me train so that we’re both better next time.

I gave him a quick salute with the training sword and moved into a guard position, then proceeded to kick his ass – mostly – until my mana had started to recover and his stamina was completely toast. Next, we were told to Identify each of the soldiers and guards. With sixteen soldiers, plus Captain Rivers, plus five guards, that ate through my mana quickly, but did at least result in my first Level in Identify. I’d also picked up one in Short Blades while sparring, though nothing in any of my Class Skills.

While we trained, the soldiers and guards were also kept busy, patrolling around the area, doing their own drills, and generally looking professional. At least the eight Tier 1s who’d gone into the dungeon got to take short naps, sleeping in shifts, before getting back to work. At first I was jealous, especially as fatigue started to set in, but I reminded myself of Raylan’s attitude and the fact that Mason still considered this light training.

If I ever want to be as badass as Mason, I need to train like him! I could set the bar lower, I guess, but why bother? Mason is the most powerful person I’ve ever met, and I’ve only got a short time to learn how he got so strong. I want to take advantage of it while it lasts… I’m not sure how many Tier 4s the DG could possibly have that they’d be using them to train recruits.

We eventually took a lunch break. At least one of the creatures that had attacked the group standing watch outside the portal was edible, and one of the Army guys had set up a large pot of stew to cook shortly after we’d arrived at the campsite. It was surprisingly good, with a lot more salt than I was used to, a lot of meat, and some vegetables as well. Zaire kindly Created a Jet Cola for me to wash it down with, and I spent another few minutes trying to memorize the spellform.

I felt much more alert afterwards, and jumped into the next set of drills with enthusiasm. We moved to the edge of the area and Hassan put up some Illusion Spells for me to use as targets. They looked like slowly spinning disks, each about the size of a plate and rotating at different speeds. One was red, one orange, and one white. The orange one was the closest to me, maybe twenty yards away, the red perhaps another ten yards further, and the white easily twenty yards past that.

“We’re going to see how many of your Skills we can train at once with this drill. You’re going to start with your weapon unloaded, and I’m going to call out one of the colors. You’ll have some of each type of shell in your bandolier, so you’ll grab the shell that matches the color of the target, load as fast as possible, and then take the shot as soon as the target spins to face you. Understood?”

The first time through was a bit awkward. I had my slugs at the bottom of my bandolier, taking up seven out of eleven slots. That left me only two spaces for my orange BB rounds and two for the red 4BKs. It was easy to grab a slug when Hassan called out “white”, but it took me longer to locate the correct round when he called “red” since it was in the middle. As the drill continued, I started to get faster and smoother in my movements.

Stolen from NovelFire, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Then Hassan started the targets moving in simple patterns, while still spinning. Each time I fired, he’d call out “hit” or “miss”, and if I missed, I had to load another of the same type of shell and shoot again until I got a hit. When I asked him how he could tell if I was hitting or not, he explained that he could sense the disruption of my attack trying to pull apart the Spell. That is so cool… Should I try to learn Illusions? Or would it be too easy to shoot targets I'm controlling?

We continued the drill until I was down to my last few mana – even with every shell being recovered – then I was paired up with Zaire for some staff-vs-sword sparring. He wasn’t very good at melee, but the long reach of his staff helped him keep me at bay. He was happy to get a Level in Blunt Weapons, which did make a noticeable difference in his favor, but nowhere near enough to level the match.

I got a short break for water and mana absorption, then it was back to the shooting drill. The boost of energy I’d gotten from the Jet had long since worn off, and my performance suffered – to Hassan’s displeasure. Then sparring with Elin, rest, and one more round of shooting. Finally, I got a Level in Variable Load, and I tried to high-five Hassan in my excitement, but he just stood there looking at me with a sigh. Jerk! I wonder what the Level actually does… Inspect.