Life Worth Living 3

It was months, months that I've been here in the outpost.

I familiarized myself with the skills I have and had trained in the way of the gun.

"Huff… huff… "

My hands felt heavy, and moving while shooting? It was hard.

"Son this is just the start, we need to get your body to be familiar with this."

"Yes Serge!"

Right now Serge is using his Skill around me called [A Hundred Paper Cranes].

Origami cranes surrounding me and attacks as it whirls around me.

And All I have to do is exercise my skill and shoot them all down. Of course Serge is holding back, after all I'm just a five year old.

Of course I always get defeated by these cranes, they make me so exhausted that it stops me from training.

I was given 8 to defeat and I have about 3 mags containing 12 bullets each. I only have one gun.

And of course the Cranes are fast, extremely fast. But thanks to my skills I was always focused, my aim game is not showing any signs of slowing down at all.

Months ago I can only shoot down two, sometimes accidental, a few more months and I can shoot four. Now I can shoot off 5.

This is only a 5 minute exercise, that's how hard this training is. But now—

–Bang! Bang! Bang!

I consecutively hit 7 of the Cranes surrounding me.

It's already the 4 minute mark. There is no pattern in the crane's movement, it was all random.

"Quick Draw"

I looked at the crane that was still on the line of its movement, with my gun already aiming.

–Bang!

The paper crane falls down on the ground. My hands shaking, I put the gun back on its holster. I just fell straight up on my back.

This training has gone on since I ever got recognized for having a talent with a gun.

"You've gotten good Son"

"Of course Sergeant, Talent is nothing without effort."

"Those are some nice words. And since we've become to this, I Dookin J. Mills acknowledge you as the skill holder"

I felt warmth in my body, my mind became more eased by those words, but didn't he acknowledge me so easily?

"Wait what?!"

"You got problems, son?"

"No, no, no I mean shouldn't it be after I perfect the Skills, should I be acknowledged?"

"Oh, son. I only need to teach you the basics and you already have them all"

My mouth went agape. I shook my head then looked at him with surprise. That was it?

"Oh son, once you perfect The Aim, the Accuracy, the Precision and the timing. You'll be good."

He scratched his moustache

"The problem is your enemy, that's why the skill I passed on you has a lot of perks"

"Ah… "

Perks are the "►" under the skill, it is the extra convenience given within the skill.

I see, the perks in here are the abilities the previous successors are lacking, but most perks in here makes me immobile, I don't need that.

They're sitting ducks with these perks from the skill. Like Quickdraw, you have to be stationary, this too 'high noon' you can only use this at 12Pm. That's noon! Noon! I can only use it for 1 minute at most too!

I need my own perk, one I can fit for myself.

I got up and went to the barracks after saluting to Serge. The barracks can house up to 300 Soldiers per building. But there are only 200 soldiers here. All of them being [B+] rank and above. I'm the only one here being [-F].

I previously got assessed, my talent could reach up to B Rank, that's good enough, I'm already a prodigy within academics. Mom wants me to stand out less I understand that now since I retrieved my previous life's memories

There is a criminal organization called Nexus. I made them for the purpose of strengthening the protagonist's resolve but I guess this affected me too.

With my own hands I wrote how my mother died, one of the causes is that she was targeted by Nexus.

They are constantly recruiting Talents to their side by making them contract to a Zenite.

If I was deemed as a big Talent in the making I would be targeted, not only by big guilds but also by Nexus. Which mom wouldn't want.

Zenites 'eat' the intellectual race of the world they invade. They invaded the Demon race's World and took their Unique to the race's ability.

Mana contract.

It was Unique to the Demon race as Mana is their lifeline, their currency if you will. And having mana contract you will be bound by its rules.

We already have something similar to mana contract but its bound by a document, it can be undone unlike the demon's race mana contract.

Demon's mana contract is far superior than a human's mana contract.

Just like a modern society filled with powers we labeled the ones protecting humanity as Heroes whilst the one destroying peace at Villains.

The Nexus was labeled as Villain infested society. Though it's more like a cult than a society.

After I took a shower and had my shower thoughts I went to bed, continuing my previous thoughts I tried to remember the plot of my own novel.

Nexus is the absolute menace to humanity, it was the reason why humanity had a couple of steps back to its advancement.

I remember in the setting where Nexus members found a rare 'Material' in the original.

And when I'm talking about a 'Material' I'm talking about a living being. They used the material as a weapon and it became a boss.

Since I don't want Nexus to be strong I decided to obstruct its plans first. I will get this 'material'.

But if it can't be mine, I'll destroy it.

…

"Do you have enough food on you?"

"Yeah, we made an ID for you so you can use the Transportation stations for free..

I smiled, these two are responsible for the checkpoint for the highway going to Ceath and Jask.

Oh well right now I'm on the outskirts of Ceath. It's full of mountains and fields so the air is fresh here.

This City, Ceath. Is more like a residential area. It's surrounded by natural structures that it would be hard to infiltrate.

It's also a foothold, as the government is declaring to retake City Jask, that city I remember writing it as a heaven for herbs and natural resources as it contains a lot of it.

Ceath's surrounded by ridges, mountains, hills and plains. In between these geographical places there are a lot of Dungeons.

Towers and gates have a lot of hard time forming here due to uneven grounds.

The problem with dungeons is that they're underground. Discovering them is very hard, it's like trying to find a landmine, you won't discover it unless you have tools or straight up steps on it.

Anyways, I packed up my duffel bag with the stuff I needed for this journey.

"Remember not to talk to strangers"

"Yeah, also make sure to use the gun as a threat just in case but never fight. Just run. Okay?"

"Yes yes, I love you both. I'm going before I miss the bus"

"gghh… okay come back alright?"

"Make sure it's only a week, a week's worth of Hiking!"

"okay! Bye!"

I ran towards the nearest bus station. Busses have fixed routes towards the city, unlike trains which travel faster and can cover more land than a bus. A bus is made for short travel.

Going down the stop nearest to a mountain ridge, I took my time looking around. The things I prepared are some food that'll last a week, money and camping tools.

They actually granted a request where they turn my duffel bag into a spatial storage even if the storage is not that much it's still helpful.

Well at least I have stuff in here that would last me finding the dungeon.

…

It was 3 hours after I started climbing the mountain. There are only a few things I displayed since I only mentioned the 'material' they found in this dungeon. But one thing is clear.

The Yowing Ridge is one of the places where it's located. Just the outskirts of Ceath city. And there are a few Landmarks I mentioned.

A Bonsai Tree that looks a hundred times bigger than a normal one. A circular root under it was the entrance. It looked obvious but the problem was the location.

I never mentioned the exact location. Well I have a week anyways. And when I get the chance I'll definitely go there and do everything that will slow down Nexus.

"Argh-!"

I lost my balance as I stepped on an uneven ground, my footwork was lost result of me tumbling down in the forest just underneath the ridge

"Ugh… that shit just happened within a minute… "

But of course in a stream of luck, the Bonsai tree appeared before me.

"Ah… "

It has that generic bonsai look. But there is an addition. There is a singular white apple growing in it.

"I didn't write such a thing did I?"

I may have forgotten, I never wrote anything about a fruit. But I may be wrong since I just mentioned this place in a background story.

'OS'

[At Your service]

'Crosscheck the notes labeled 'my novel' and find a word relating to bonsai'

[understood]

[There is two mentions of the word Bonsai]

'Check if one of them tells something about a fruit'

[None.]

I started using OS in the past months. It acts like a phone, it was useful since it's an intangible one. I can place my notes here without the risk of ever exposing it.

Anyways I never mentioned anything about a fruit, but of course, having this extra loot is more than welcome.

I arrived 7 hours earlier than expected, out of luck maybe but that was a good thing since I don't have to spend a whole week finding the dungeon.

It's still in the afternoon so I decided to rest. Setting up my camp, there are tools to instantly set it up but, I'd like to think of this as training.

"I'll get inside of this once I finish preparations"

Today's technological advancements are very impressive, I have this water jug that can house 50 L of water. So I won't have to regularly refill this. I even heard it's only 20C.

"Welp"

When it comes to sense of currency I could only compare it to one, 5.25C was enough to buy you a bucket of fried chicken. I don't remember how much a bucket of chicken was in my previous life since I didn't have enough money to buy one.

I ate a chocolate bar for some energy, the sun is still up and I plan to scout the inside of the dungeon before acting rash.

After a while of rest I got up, left the duffel bag on the tent and went inside the dungeon with all of my ammo and my gun.

"Phew…"

But as I stepped inside another uneven footing greeted me. Leading me to fall.

"WAH–"

I stumbled and rolled like a ball but that wasn't all. It took a few solid seconds before it came to a stop.

"ugh… I… I'll bring a torch next time…"

I did bring some source of light, two of them in fact but one is a lamp on which I could only see things in close proximity, while the other is a torch extension in my gun.

I didn't have it equipped on my gun yet. As it's on the bag.

As I got used to the darkness of the cave my eyes scoured the surrounding place.

It's a tunnel, a large tunnel that at least could house two houses with second floors. But that's not all, it was a long tunnel that I see no end at all.

The walls are full of carvings, a repeating pattern too. The floor is also patterned to a generic circular tile pattern.

Looking forward seems to be the only thing I have to do for now.

Going near the wall and putting an arm's length distance from it while holding a gun I prepared myself for an arduous journey.