"That's about it. Rather than telling you so much about it, you might as well spend more time on training. Remember: improving your strength is key!"
"Got it!" Carl and his friends replied with a solemn expression. As Iger said, there was no point saying anything now. Now that they had come to Punk Fortress, they did not need to consider much other than constantly fighting and improving themselves.
"It's getting late! Let's go! I'm putting you under Bill's wing for now. That old man is hot-tempered but his strength and experience are undeniable!"
Thus, the three of them followed Iger through the countless streets inside Punk Fortress and returned to the defense area under Bill's supervision.
Hearing the noise on the wall, John exclaimed, "Wow! It's pretty lively up there!"
"Hmph, the fort defense mission is a 24-hour affair. Those bugs won't give up attacking just because it's nighttime."
"What? They'll st
After a while, Carl finally reached the shooting range in Punk Fortress. Considering that the fort defense mission was still ongoing, he thought that there would not be many people at this hour.To his surprise, he walked right into a bustling scene that betrayed his expectations.Unlike the streets outside, the constant sound of bullets being fired filled the air. From the sound of it, at least a hundred people were training their marksmanship at the same time."Why is it so crowded… Back in Brightwood Camp, there was virtually no one at the shooting range…" Carl murmured as he walked deeper into the shooting range.It seemed that he had underestimated the importance of marksmanship to ordinary soldiers. These soldiers did not have powerful War Spirits to help them, after all.The only thing that they could rely on was their Kalin machine guns and an assortment of ammunition. That was their only assurance against the
"Shut up, all of you!" First Lieutenant Trevor shouted in anger, plunging the noisy shooting range into silence."What strong courage and might," Carl thought, widening his eyes. He tried his best to control his body because he realized that his legs were getting soft after hearing First Lieutenant Trevor shout.When it was calm again, First Lieutenant Trevor looked at Carl calmly and asked, "Why do you need to train at the shooting range? Most War Spirit warriors do not need to come to the shooting range."Carl nodded and conjured his War Spirit weapon, Massacre, on his right hand. "My War Spirit is a long-range shooter. That's why I need to practice my marksmanship," he replied seriously.A commotion swept the group of soldiers. They looked like they were going to mock Carl again, but did not because First Lieutenant Trevor was around. They could only try their best to repress their feelings and not let them show.Tr
"I'll go first!" Carl shouted angrily. He was confident in his Snap Shooting-combating Skill. He did not think that he would lose to an ordinary soldier like Drizzt in this shooting range."I swear on my dignity and several months of tough training that I'll defeat Drizzt here!" he thought.Trevor sneered after hearing Carl's reply. He nodded, agreeing to Carl's request.Drizzt walked over to them. The crowd had emptied two booths for them. Drizzt smiled at Carl and said, "You can use your War Spirit weapon but you can still only use 20 bullets!""I'll just use the most ordinary Korta gun…" Drizzt grabbed a Korta gun in a well-practiced movement and smiled at Carl.Carl snorted. Without wasting time, he stretched his right hand. With a burst of silver light, his War Spirit weapon, Massacre, appeared in front of everyone."What a good weapon!" Drizzt sighed emotionally after seeing his gun.The
Carl's resentful expression was evident for all to see but Drizzt did not take it to heart at all. He continued to smile as if Carl was giving him a look of encouragement instead of a look of hatred."All right! Since Carl has no objections, Drizzt can go next!" Trevor continued to act as the judge of the competition.He even gave Drizzt a look, telling him with his eyes: "You'd better shoot properly if you don't want me to sort you out later!"Drizzt grinned and picked up a loaded Korta gun. With a smile, he said, "Carl, are you ready? I'm about to start now!"Carl stood beside him with a rather awkward expression. Drizzt had made it clear that Carl could disturb him all he wanted because he was not all concerned.The calmer and more unperturbed Drizzt looked, the angrier Carl became."Hmph! Since you disturbed me, I'll also disturb you! And I can give you an even bigger disturbance!" Carl thought. He beg
Carl smiled wryly at Kyd's words. He thought that he had gotten somewhere with his Snap Shooting-combating Skill.He thought that even if he was not a master of shooting, he could at least be included in the ranks of experts.First, it was Kyd teaching him a lesson in his battle against the six-legged bug with iron armor. Then, it was Drizzt showing off his incredible shooting techniques when he was preparing to train at the shooting range.Carl could feel his head spinning after absorbing two lessons in such a short time.Kyd was still staring at him without saying anything, seemingly determined to get an answer out of Carl whether the latter liked it or not.Carl had no choice but to answer with a wry smile, "I know what my mistakes were. I took things for granted after practicing the Snap Shooting-combating Skill for a while. There are always people better than I am. I didn't think that there'd be a person with such
Carl could only smile wryly at Rio's question. What happened at the shooting range was no glorious matter. There was no need to tell everyone about it.Besides, he was good friends with Rio and John. If he told Rio about what happened, he was sure that John would also find out about it within half a day.Perhaps Rio would feel indignant on his behalf but he would not do anything excessive because of this. John was a different story altogether. He might just storm the shooting range the next day and smash the place with his flaming fists.Whether or not John could win over so many soldiers was trivial. Carl was sure that it would exacerbate the misunderstanding between War Spirit warriors and ordinary soldiers.That was not something that he wanted to see, so he chose to keep it a secret from Rio.Rio was no idiot. He could tell from Carl's expression that something was not right. He laughed and patted Carl on the shoul
"Bug tide? What's a bug tide?" It was Carl's first time hearing this term. The first thing he did was turn to look at Rio.Between the three of them, they had an unwritten rule of turning to Rio whenever they encountered something that they had never heard of or did not understand. Rio had yet to disappoint them so far.Carl was the go-to guy for the important stuff and Rio was for the trivial stuff! Nothing could go wrong with this arrangement!Sure enough, a frowning Rio immediately offered an explanation after hearing Carl's question. "What we encounter on our regular defense mission can only be considered minor bug swarms.""A bug tide is tens of thousand times larger than a bug swarm. It's called a tide because it's boundless like the ocean tide. You won't even be able to see the end of it.""Oh, you're pretty knowledgeable, kid!" Iger looked at Rio in amazement. He nodded and continued explaining, "He's right. We
While waiting for instructions under the wall, the sound of a clicking switch came from above. Carl raised his head and looked in the direction of the sound, where he saw countless huge incandescent lights shining on the world beyond the wall.Noticing their confused expressions, Iger explained, "We have no choice. Since the bug tide chose to come at night, we'll have to turn on the lights to be able to fight.""But under such circumstances, wouldn't the lights become the focus of the bugs' fire instead?" Rio asked, immediately grasping the point.Iger pointed to the dozens of tarpaulin-covered junks under the wall and calmly said, "It's troublesome but if the scenario that you're suggesting happens, someone will immediately change the lighting equipment.""Of course, if our reserves really dry up, we'll have to resort to short-lived solutions like flares. But that's the worst-case scenario. Flares go out faster than incandescent l