Chapter 167 - Under The Moon, Sun, Wind, And Rain

Episode 160- Under the moon, sun, wind, and rain

Instructor T.E furrowed his eyebrows, "You want Comp out of Team R1 and Dea out of Team R2 to form their group?" He paused to inhale before continuing, "Instead of 3 groups of 3 and 1 group of 2, you want, 2 groups of 3, and 3 groups of 2? Don't you think this is a bit… risky? Especially considering that they are a team specializing in defending."

"Sergeant Dea and Private Comp's mission will be to scout the area and take note of the enemy's location. This way, they will notice every little thing occurring inside the enemy team and pass the messages on to the rest."

Instructor T.E shook his head, "That is still a bit risky."

"We have the best weapon there is against Ron." another bass voice spoke out, this time, the voice belonged to a female.

Everyone turned to Eugene, who continued regardless of whether or not Instructor T.E allowed her to speak, "Our best weapon is holding on and yielding. Hence, even if our recovery team engages with their dense team, they will manage to hold out and exhaust their strength before Private Comp or Sergeant Dea arrives."

Instructor T.E's frown lightened, finally getting the gist of the picture Con had plotted. He turned to Con and nodded, "Very good. Having this hidden card is better than having nothing at all." Because Dea and Comp schedules will be flexible, they can help R1, R2, R3, and R4 engage when they encounter them.

Flashback end

And that was how the soldiers were able to achieve a quick and efficient victory. All thanks to the quiet man known as Con!

Eugene walked out of the forest and raised a brow at Ron, "Your plan might have worked if you had not targeted Aernest." 

The moment she spoke, Ron's face darkened immediately. 

"Oh." Eugene stopped walking and added, "You should have made sure your people were good at climbing. Don't you know by now that Aernest is technically a monkey?"

Ron wanted to refute however crouched down in pain due to his injury. This chance allowed Eugene to escape, leaving him with a bitter experience. 

Everyone was given a two-hour rest period before the second operation began. Weapons were permitted in the 2nd half which lightened the burden of engaging in physical fights. However, that didn't mean everyone was given weapons. 

On the knights' team, they were given two bows and two swords. And on the military team, they received two rifles and two handguns. Of course, these weren't real weapons either. The colored stained arrows and the color stained sword that were given to the knights were blunt while the bullets that were given to the soldiers were mere color pellets. This means that it is impossible to kill someone with these weapons. If you choose to use weapons, there was also a specific goal you had to achieve, which was to hit a specific body part; the heart and the head. They will also not be eliminated unless some color is visible on these body-specific body parts.

The knights and the soldiers were mixed up at random for the 2nd simulation training and as if Eugene was suddenly faced with karma, her opponents were Aernest, Con, and Ron. The three most talented individuals… against her. Despite the fact that she knows she is doomed, she chooses to fight the battles head-on.

A few hours later…

Eugene smashed Con's face into the ground. Though he was unable to dodge and got attacked, he got up quickly and the fight intensified. 

"Do you not know pain?" Con said through his teeth gritted, his facial expression completely dark as he attacked her. The girl in front of him was covered in mud from head to toe, and though her face was red from exhaustion, her eyes were completely focused on him.

Eugene chose not to respond, instead of continuing to attack. If she specialized in anything, it was not giving up, even if it meant her head getting cut off. Well, unless her arteries were not severed, she will be able to fight. Anyways, the point is, she will not give up even if she dies!

Using her former family martial arts, she accelerated forward and decelerated backward. She repeated this, leaving a blurry cast behind to trick Con's eyes.

Con frowned and just before he could back off, Eugene kneeled to the ground and threw dirt on his face, catching him off guard. Taking this chance, Eugene pounced him over with her 60kg weight but just before she could land the final blow right on top of him, a loud gunshot could be heard. 

BANG!!

The area around Eugene and Con turned quiet, and Eugene's fists stopped just right in front of Con. Without much so of a glance, she could tell that she was shot on the heart or the head from behind. 

Shot by someone she knew very well. 

A cloud of blue smoke could be seen flying into the sky and bursting, announcing the end of the simulation training and announcing the winner. 

Eugene got off of Con and turned behind her. Her eyes narrowed dangerously as she stared at the leaves that appeared to be moving. 

A bush of leaves jumped off the tree and landed far away from her.  It was an amusing sight because not a single body part could be seen through the leaves, which also means that the person inside the bush had very little vision. 

"Tsk." Eugene looked away. The only person who was able to shoot without vision was only Aernest. And seeing that she never noticed Aernest, he must've been here from the start, which meant that Con had purposely lured her here. 

"Sister…" Aernest sighed from inside of the bush made from leaves. "You should use your ears a little more!"

".... Do you think everyone's like you?" She was just a normal person with no special abilities alright?

Aernest stripped out of his leaves and immediately gaped at her. 

"What? Why are you looking at me like that?" The corner of Eugene's lips twitched. 

Aernest put his hands on his waist and pouted, "Did we or did we not do ear training together? Sister! I wasn't even far away! If you concentrated enough, you would have caught me!" He lectured!

Flashback…

Shhhh…

A calm yet powerful sound was produced in the vicinity of the vast training field of the house of Veria. In this training field, two people stood under the sound; the only sound you can stand under, rain. 

Even though it was only raining lightly, they could see each raindrop carefully. Their eyes have become well trained as a result of all of the eye training they received from the Veria instructor, as well as the apple training they received from Duke Rodriguez.

The point of this training isn't the eyes, but the ears. To maximize their ear usage to become sensitive to sound, they must train their ears. This means, heavily concentrating your senses on your hearing and training for long hours. In this case, they were training under the sun, and under the rain.

It was a training Aernest devised to train his already sensitive ears to hear above and beyond. He had invited Eugene at random because he had read somewhere that ear training only works when you are young. Eugene believed that it would become a valuable asset to her in the future, so she joined Aernest.

Eugene struggled to understand the training at first. It appeared to be similar to the eye training with the number boards, but it wasn't. This was strictly for your ears. She had assumed that standing there mindlessly would not yield much until she did it for a month. 

For a month, she trained for many hours, whether it be during the day, or whether it be during the night. By the second month, she had grasped the concept of this training and got used to it. Though she was slow because she lacked talent in this area, she was able to pick up on sounds she would usually ignore through her perseverance.

The first distinguishable sound she was able to pick up was birds crying. Then the sound of wind picking up. And then, the sound of workers working in the garden. It was through years of training when she was able to pick up on conversation through long-distance though, sometimes all she would hear is a mumble. However, the result is the result. And she has been training her ears constantly ever since 4. Whether it be under the moon, sun, wind, and rain, she had preserved and worked hard. 

Flashback end-

Eugene's face scrunched up. Who does Aernest think she is? Some kind of genius monster who was good at everything? Even if her ears are sensitive, it was still not as good as his! They were in a forest where many hundreds of sounds were going on at the same time! Unlike his ears, her ears were still selective when it comes to certain sounds alright?

Not to mention, she was completely focused on bringing Con down that she couldn't focus on anything else! How was she supposed to concentrate on him who was 20 meters away?

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Asked Aernest with a raised brow when he saw that Eugene was giving him a look. 

"..... Nothing." She turned away unhappily.. Hmph.