Reincarnated in another world with a Gunsmithing System

A training dungeon

A year sounded like a long time, but Ezra knew he would not be the only one training for the duel. If what Cecilia had said was true and Jasenki had indeed reached level E, Ezra would have a tall task before him.

 

Even though Ezra himself was at level E, he hadn’t been able to awaken two of his most powerful skills due to his crippled hands. And he desperately needed them to survive a duel with another shooter of his level.

 

“I will do my best to improve. I promise I won’t let you all down,” Ezra whispered to himself as his recent humiliation flashed before his eyes, strengthening his resolve to prove his worth to all those who doubted him.

 

Ezra had read about training dungeons. But he had never been inside one. These were secret magical locations infested with different kinds of magical beasts and monsters and some of them were even filled with myriads of traps.

 

Most would have expected a crippled boy to turn back when asked to train in such a dangerous place, but Ezra was excited to finally be able to practice against live targets again.

 

Aurelia led the way, and Ezra followed like a shadow, entering the portal right after her. On the other side, they found themselves inside a massive training ground surrounded by torches with pale blue flames.

 

“Welcome to the training ground. I’ll sit back and watch while you do the shooting. But first, let’s go over the basics once more,” Aurelia said.

 

Flicking her system panel open, she switched to the general information screen.

 

“We are all magic users in this family, which means we can use our magic power to refill our weapons with magic bullets when we run out of ammunition. And the good thing is all guns can use magic bullets. However, enchanted weapons have access to three kinds of ammunition: normal bullets, magic bullets, and enchanted bullets,” she explained and then turned to Ezra.

 

Since this was an old lesson, Ezra already knew the fundamentals, but Aurelia went on to elaborate on the details.

 

“Normal bullets are difficult to carry and are a hassle to replace. Magic bullets, on the other hand, can be conjured by anyone possessing magic talent. They automatically replenish the gun’s ammunition and are quite similar to normal bullets, except for the fact that they do not have any casing and inflict magic damage,” she explained.

 

Ezra nodded and asked, “What about enchanted bullets?”

 

“Enchanted bullets, just like enchanted weapons, are the rarest of the lot. These bullets can only be fired using an enchanted weapon and they are imbued with magical incantations. Some of them have elemental effects, while others inflict different kinds of hexes and curses. And the rarest among them can unleash devastating magic spells like fireball, hailstorm, chain-lightning, and magic explosion.”

 

So far, Ezra had only tried firing normal bullets and occasionally magic ones as well. However, enchanted bullets were still a mystery to him.

 

“Ramel and I are both F-level magic users which is why conjuring one magic bullet drains around 10% of our magic power. We can manage to fire 10 magic bullets before our magic power is completely drained,” Aurelia explained again. “But you are different. Being an E-level magic user means if you start at 100% magic power, you can fire 30 magic bullets before your magic power is completely drained.”

 

“But I’ve been trying for weeks now, and my magic power is still stuck below 30%,” Ezra complained. “I used to gain magic power so quickly when my hands were still okay, but now, even increasing it by 1% takes days.”

 

“Your maximum magic power used to be 13% when you started training after the accident. It stands at 29% now. That’s quite an improvement I’d say,” Aurelia said, trying her best to motivate Ezra. “Things are going to change now, I promise. And I’m here to ensure you don’t slack off on your training.”

 

Aurelia tossed him a small glass bottle containing a sparkling blue liquid and said, “It’s a minor magic restoration potion. Drink up when you run out of magic power.”

 

Ezra carefully slipped the bottle into his jacket’s pocket and thanked her.

 

“Despite being an E-level magic user, you still do not possess any special skills like Bulletproof Armor or Extended Hand, so please try to be careful,” she advised before stepping away.

 

The torches flickering around Ezra were suddenly blown out by a strong gust of wind before being reignited again, this time with pale red flames.

 

Ezra's ears perked up as he heard a sloshing sound. A group of green, gelatinous creatures with dark blue eyes and hollow mouths appeared before him.

 

There were ten smaller ones bouncing around two bigger ones with slightly darker complexions. They didn’t seem to notice Ezra, but kept going about their business unbothered by the presence of the outsiders.

 

“A whole colony of Gloops. How disgusting!” Ezra muttered as he readied his own revolver, an old Larkin and Hops 5-shot compact revolver. “If I can’t even kill a few slimy pests, I don’t deserve to become a Gunner.”

Gloops were nothing more than a mere nuisance for any adventurer armed with a gun. They were weak, low-level monsters who fed on sludge and usually avoided people. However, dealing with a whole colony of these pesky creatures required some skill, especially since they were accompanied by two Bloated Gloops.

Ezra knew, he had to maintain his distance and be steady with his shots or else the Gloops could easily overpower him once aggravated.

Ejecting the cylinder of his revolver, Ezra used his magic power to fill the empty slots with magic bullets. When all five slots had been filled, he popped the cylinder back in and prepared to take his first shot.

 

Ezra was still adjusting his aim when suddenly a wall slammed down behind him, blocking the exit and cutting him off from Aurelia.

 

The wall on the other side of the room was suddenly lifted, revealing another hidden area behind it. Even though Ezra was standing quite far, he could see a black crystal glowing in the distance.

 

[Stirge Hatching has invaded the dungeon!]

[Training Dungeon destabilized.]

[Destroy the corrupting crystal to stabilize it.]

[New shooting objective 1: Fire 20 rounds of magic bullets.]

[New shooting objective 2. Kill 10 Gloops.]