Chapter 122: aptitude test

Today was the 3rd day since the allied fleet embarked on their journey, to the general direction of the vault. They continued their preparations for this extremely important mission.

After training every day for the past few years with only cold weapons as a gladiator, Clark was finally going to brush up again on his skills with the gun.

Back in his days as a gladiator, he didn’t completely abandon his gun training. He still used his old implant to simulate training arenas, where he trained his mastery of the gun. Though he seldom did it, he was still able to retain his shooting skills.

Emily and Scott accompanied him to the ranged training arena, as he got ready to take his aptitude test again.

After staying together for more than a week, Sergeant Scott already kind of became his assistant. Despite being soldiers of the same rank, the Sergeant respected him so much, that he listened to his orders on everything.

He also liked his company. Despite them being of the same age, Scott was completely open and willing to learn anything useful from his stronger and more talented counterpart.

After calming his emotions, he finally entered the arena. Scott worked diligently from the side, as he set-up all the parameters to power up the ranged training.

There was a big hall, built specifically for the ranged soldiers to train in the fleet. After locking himself up in the huge hall, the training time count finally started counting down. His implant informed him diligently.

[Ding!! Training starts in 5…, 4, 3, 2, 1…, Start.]

As soon as the time count ended, the hall’s structure immediately changed, as it now looked like the hideout of a bandit group. Bandits dressed in military uniform started appearing from various corners of the hideout, as they quickly started shooting at him.

Tu! Tu! Tu! Tu! The sound of machine-gun fire erupted, as bullets flew at him from a dozen different directions. The advance of the bullets looked just like the advance of a black and red swarm of bees.

His implant went to work immediately, as his vision now became like that of a 3D world. The bullet’s trajectories were calculated, and projected as black lines to him directly in his brain, as he finally moved.

Whoosh!! He quickly ducked, rolled forward a little, before jumping up again in a spiral manner, as all the bullets flew harmlessly past his figure.

Since he learned of this feature of his implant, this became one of his trump cards. Its effects were even more outrageous than that of a vision enhancer, as the paths of the bullets are projected to him vividly like he had eyes all over his body.

“Sniper,” as soon as the first round of bullets flew past him, he whispered this to his training 2-form gun, as it directly morphed into its sniper configuration.

Bam!! Bam!! Bam!! He finally retaliated, as 3 thick bright blue beams erupted from the sniper rifle. 3 of the bandits died immediately from the shots, as the others hastily scrambled to find cover.

Despite their scrambling, they still shot back as machine-gun fire and that of sniper’s intertwined, forming a cacophony of loud gunshot sounds.

Before the bandits even squeezed their triggers, his implant already detected it and informed him. He responded before the bullets left their gun shelters, as he ran while suspending his body horizontally across the wall.

He practically became a super sniper, as bright beam after bright beam erupted from his gun. All the bullets released by his targets all hit empty air, as his suspended figure running on the wall positioned him in an area that was not targeted.

Every one of the beams from his sniper rifle did its assigned role of taking down at least one bandit. His aim never missed his targets, as bandit after bandit kept on falling dead from the extreme firepower.

Despite his exceptional performance, this was not real, it was training. Bandits kept on appearing. As their teammates died, so at the same frequency did others appear. And the new ones were stronger and upgraded versions of the bandits.

Awwn!! He finally received his first injury, as a thick sniper bullet impaled itself deep into his legs. His implant informed him on time, but his reactions were unable to keep up.

“Machine gun,” he gritted his teeth, as he ordered his 2-form gun to take its other configuration.

The 2-form gun worked fast, as it quickly morphed into a dangerous-looking machine gun. He quickly opened fire, at the now overwhelming number of bandits trying to push him to a corner.

Ta! Ta! Ta! Ta! The sound of his bullets spraying out was just like the delicate sound of raindrops falling. The originally cohesive bandit force quickly scattered again, as the bullets impacted them with force.

Most of the bandits took only glancing blows, but the few ones who took direct shots died immediately, after receiving about 5 to 10 bullet injuries.

His machine gun quickly reached maximum output, as 500 bullets sprayed out of its muzzle every second. Despite this, the upgraded bandits still held their ground, as they cornered him further to the wall.

As it seemed like his defeat was inevitable, he finally did something that he had not done in years. He started executing his battle art, as the sound of his gunshots changed.

Bam!! Ta! Ta! Ta! The sound and recoil of the machine gun changed, as different bullets started being shot out of its muzzle. Anti-gravity bullets, stun bullets, gas bullets, and a variety of other bullets shot out, making sounds like the drop of missiles.

After staying in his hand for so long, he was now a master in utilizing this battle art. He could now interchange between the special bullets, and normal bullets, in a battle.

The unsuspecting bandits could not control themselves, as the ones hit by the anti-gravity bullets rose from the ground into the air. Other ones stood rooted in place, as the stun bullets impacted their armor.

Before they could make heads of the situation, smoke quickly covered the whole battlefield, as Clark finally took back control of the battlefield.

Gunshot sounds continuously rang, as the dying shouts of the bandits kept on echoing across the training hall. They could no longer help themselves, as the smoke succeeded in destroying any attempt at teamwork in the battle.

Despite the elite ones trying to recover order among the bandits, Clark was perceptive enough to snipe out these strong individuals first.

Boom!! After what felt like an eternity, the last snipe sounded on the battlefield, as the leader of the bandits finally succumbed to the fast and unexpected techniques of their target.

[Ding!! Master successfully passed the aptitude test, to test the mastery of the gun.]

Performance: 9/10 stars.

Progress: 8% improvement, compared to the last battle.

Head snipes: 502/1200

One-shot kills: 780/1200

Current health status: 68/100

[Evaluation: An excellent performance from an excellent soldier. Conclusion- Master is the best in everything.]

Clark finally stood up, as he wiped the blood away from his mouth. Despite his sorry state, he could not hide the grin on his face, as he finally finished this aptitude training after trying 2 times previously.

He took deep breaths to calm his rapidly beating heart, before finally walking out of the hall. As he walked out, the dead bandits disappeared, as the training hall finally recovered to his previous state.

Outside the training hall, Scott watched with wide eyes, as his expression morphed into that of disbelief. After reading the evaluation that the training machine gave, his expression turned into that of horror.

“502 head snipes and 780 one-shot kills, what type of outrageous performance is this?” His world view on high-grade soldiers was completely overturned with this.

Emily smiled wider on seeing his expression, it felt funny to her. Unlike him, she was already used to Clark doing the impossible.

Bam!! Clark finally came out of the training room, as he closed the door with a bang sound. The pains he felt all over his body were real. He was not able to listen to Scott’s amazement and praise, as he demanded to be taken to the hospital.

The bandits he just fought with were not projected. The training room has training dummies that it could bring out when soldiers are training. But in the battle, instead of seeing training dummies, the training soldier will see real bandits.

It was just the work of technology. If the training soldier can’t finish the training, he can demand it to stop. The training can also stop by itself when the machines detect that the soldier is too heavily injured.

…

Later in the evening, Clark was finally discharged from the fleet’s hospital. His injuries were not too serious; he mainly suffered from the bullets that he failed to dodge due to his slow reactions.

Emily and Scott escorted him to his room, as the day was already beginning to get dark. After reaching his room, as Scott was about to wave farewell and go to his room, he interrupted him.

“Wait a bit, please, follow me to the armory. I want to get new gears for myself and Emily. If you want some, you can just get for yourself also”. He told him, as he went inside to change his clothes.

“Really??” Scott was shocked, as his brain quickly processed what he just heard.

“Why would a soldier just decide to buy something for another soldier, when their own expense is already astronomical?” He could not understand this new Sergeant’s thought process at all.

Clark finally checked his account balance yesterday, after 3 years of living off others. He was surprised, as not only did Leo not use the money, he also added to the money.

He was shocked when he found over 2,000,000 Spartan credits in the account. He didn’t know what happened, but he would use the money first, then ask questions later when he meets his friend.

It did not take them long before they reached the high-grade armory of the Spartan fleet. Clark already got used to seeing armories of different grades; the sight no longer fascinated him.

He didn’t waste time, as he searched directly for what he needed. He bought his first exotic spear, for a total of 55,000 Spartan credits. His level was already higher than years ago; he could no longer settle for anything less.

He already had high-level armor, so that saved him some money. He bought an exotic 2-form gun next, for an astronomical sum of 100,000 Spartan credits. It was the best the fleet had at the moment.

Emily also had exotic armor already, so he just bought her 2 swords for another 100,000 Spartan credits. After this, he bought other complimentary gadgets that are useful to soldiers for both of them.

After all these purchases, he finally transferred 100,000 Spartan credits to Scott’s account for his personal use.

After all these transactions, the 3 soldiers finally returned to their various rooms, as they tried to familiarize themselves with their new weapons and gadgets.

[Thank you for reading this chapter, I really appreciate it. If you love this book, please leave your power stones behind to support it.]