Chapter 76: Gun (Part 2)

Hm...this is pretty tricky. But I think I can pull it off, I’m just going to need to keep practicing. Gotta be careful not to neglect the rest of my training though, I’ll need to balance it.It was the 15th of January, 2169, and I was currently at a training room in a gym, getting some target practice in with my new gun.

I’d bought a sleek black pistol with a long, narrow barrel, and some bullets too. Unlike the guns in my old era, these don’t have any recoil or whatever, so they’re apparently easier to use.

But since I never actually used a gun in my previous life, I have no frame of reference, so I’ve got no idea how big a difference the lack of recoil makes.

I’ve been working on my aim for the last ten days, and my accuracy is steadily improving, though it’s still pretty far from a level where it’d be effective in battle.

The biggest problem I was facing was the lack of velocity with the bullets. When I channel my Mana into the gun, it automatically directs the Mana to the bullet, which determines the force and speed at which the bullet shoots out of the barrel.

And I’d be better off throwing stones at Monsters, that’s how slow the bullets I fire are. Rangers have a passive affinity Skill that helps them master projectile weapons faster, but it still takes months of practice to get effective with it.

It’ll probably take me a long time to get my bullets to shoot out with enough force to make it a viable option in combat, and even then, it probably won’t be fast enough to do any real damage.

So, a couple of days ago, I decided to switch things up and try something different. I tried firing the gun without any bullets, only Mana. And I was pleasantly surprised by the result.

I was able to channel more Mana into the gun with the bullets out of the way, and fired out bursts of pure Mana.

These Mana bullets are a lot faster than the physical bullets were, but they have a shorter range, they fade after about ten meters.


But that range has been slowly but steadily increasing the more I practice, there’s a trick to channeling Mana into the gun.

Injecting Mana into it in the form of thin strands instead of just flooding the weapon with Mana results in a more stable and faster Mana bullet.

I tried that with the regular bullets too, but it didn’t really make much of a difference, so I decided to focus solely on using Mana bullets.

They don’t do much physical damage...right now, they hit with about as much force as a finger flick. But that’s fine, because they have another effect...the same effect as Mana Pulse.

Granted, it’s a lot less powerful than a direct Mana Pulse strike from my hands, but still, it’s a more than useful option to have up my sleeve.

And as I train and improve, the range and speed of my Mana bullets should increase, which should also make the Mana Pulse effect stronger.

If a Ranger tried this, the result would probably be a small bullet made of the energy of their Attribute...for instance, if a Ranger with the Fire Attribute attempted it, the gun would probably shoot out a small, weak fireball that fades after a couple of meters or so.

So, this all but confirms it, Mana Pulse is unique to me. Something about my Mana has an effect that disrupts the Mana of others, so if I can master firing Mana bullets out of this gun, I’ll have a valuable new option in my arsenal.

I also tried using Mana Pulse with Desecrator, I thought maybe if I channel Mana into it and then release it when I strike, I could inflict the effect of Mana Pulse through the blade.

But that didn’t work, Desecrator’s blade can’t fire out Mana, so channeling Mana into it does absolutely nothing.

Ai confirmed as much by analyzing the blade with Appraisal while I was channeling Mana into it.

"Alright, let’s try this again," I muttered, raising the gun towards a target ten meters in front of me, before firing as I took aim and locked on.

The Mana bullet shot out of the gun, striking the target, about five inches above where I’d been aiming.

<You keep arching your wrist slightly when you pull the trigger, that is what is throwing off your aim>

Yeah, I know, I’m going to need to correct that.

I’ll have to put a conscious effort into keeping my wrist still while firing, until I get used to it and can do it without thinking about it.

The Mana bullets are basically invisible, there’s a slight shimmer to them, but they’re easy to miss unless you’re actively watching for them.

Hey, Ai, got any idea how much I can improve my shooting? Like, how far could I potentially increase my range, and how fast I can make the bullets travel?

<Calculating>

<Due to lack of information, this is a fair rough estimate>

<Your range is unlikely to exceed twenty to twenty-five meters, as pure Mana cannot hold shape for very long>

<Even once you have fully refined your Mana bullets, it is unlikely that they will travel farther than twenty-five meters before falling apart and dissipating>

<As for speed, you should be able to impart enough velocity and momentum through the Mana bullets to inflict light bone fractures upon impact against a target at your current level>

<Against targets significantly more powerful than your current level, the Mana bullets are unlikely to inflict any real physical damage>

And the Mana Pulse effect?

<Even once you have fully mastered shooting, it is highly unlikely that the Mana bullets will be as powerful as using Mana Pulse with a direct strike from your hands>

<It will depend on distance, the closer your target is, the more powerful the Mana Pulse effect from the bullet will be, and the further away the target, the weaker the effect>

<To give you a range, your Mana bullets could become anywhere beetween five to fifteen percent as powerful as a direct, full-powered Mana Pulse strike, depending on the distance from the target>

Hm...so, a twenty-five meter range and upto fifteen percent as powerful as Mana Pulse at full power.

And I’m guessing I’ll probably have to train for ages to get it that level...maybe this isn’t worth it, after all-...

<Actually, it should not take that long>

<Given your current rate of progress, and since you already have a lot of practice and experience with Mana channeling, I estimate that you should have fully mastered generating and firing Mana bullets through your gun within five to six weeks>

<So, by then, you should have achieved your maximum range, velocity and power with the Mana bullets>

<Your aim and speed in generating the bullets should improve at a similar rate as well, though the exact timeframe will depend on how much you practice>

<Currently, your accuracy is just under sixty percent, and you take a little over five seconds to generate a single Mana Bullet on average>

I see...thanks for the detailed breakdown, that was really helpful. Alright, then, I’ll keep working at it, until I master it.

Even if it isn’t going to be as powerful as I initially hoped, having an effective ranged option in my arsenal should give me a lot more versatility.