Azure crystal lamps flickered in the distance, hovering overhead like curious fireflies as a throng of impatient onlookers watched on. In the middle of a circular training arena, a young boy with a frown on his face tightened his trembling grip on a smoking revolver. He looked lean and weak and his cheeks were flushed like dying roses. Despite wearing a furry red cloak over his jacket, he could feel the biting cold wind chilling his bones as it swept the arena from the east. A spectral white wolf flickered behind him like an enormous shadow. It loomed over his head for a few seconds before dissipating into thin air. “Get lost, you pathetic cripple!” “Enough of this shit show!” “He’s just a useless loser!” The disappointed booing from the flock of eager onlookers pierced his chest amidst shouts of mockery. And it was all due to his failure to hit the floating targets. "Magic talent level E, magic power: 29%!" a loud voice sounded as if taunting him. "Shooting score 2/10,
Ezra lay awake all night, unable to get his failure out of his head. Every single time he tried to sleep, he heard those mocking voices and the cackling faces flashed before his eyes. Recalling all the humiliation and mockery only made him more anxious and uneasy. He tossed and turned in his bed, cursing his fate.He could have never imagined the prospect of his bright future would be snatched away by one freak accident. “What good is this reincarnation if I am destined to live and die as a cripple?” Ezra questioned as he sat up straight on his bed and threw off his quilt. In his previous life, Ezra had been a young schoolboy whose grades were consistently low and who was as athletic as a lazy mule. However, he had always been a good friend to the ones he valued, and would always help those in need even if it was at his own expense. Ezra faintly recalled his past life, and the scene of his death only flashed in his mind in blurry fragments. He remembered getting hit by a truc
The appearance of a human eye on someone’s hand was a shocking phenomenon even in this magical world. Ezra looked shell-shocked by the incident. “What the hell is this?” he gasped, grabbing his trembling right hand with his left. The eye that had suddenly popped open had a pale blue iris and coral-red blood vessels, which darkened as it throbbed spasmodically. Ezra could feel a sharp pain in his hand, but he gritted his teeth to suppress his urge to scream. People around him already treated him like a freak, and he did not want to attract any more attention to himself. Keeping his calm, Ezra walked up to his study table and got hold of a compass. Curling his fingers around its cold, steely legs, he prepared to pierce the eye. But just as he was about to stab his hand, the eye disappeared. Beads of cold sweat rolled down Ezra’s neck as he looked at his hand. Dropping the compass, he brought his right hand close to his face. The eye was no longer there, and his hand had stopped hur
Lord Sebastian was absolutely furious to hear the Elder’s proposal, but he knew he didn’t have the strongest cards to play. A freak accident had reduced his gifted son into a cripple, and his middle child wasn’t the most responsible man. The Elder was quick to notice the missing family member and grinned slightly. Looking around with a discerning air, he spoke in a tone expressing mock concern. “I see Sir Ramel isn’t here. I had heard many great things about him. Wasn’t he anointed as an honorary knight last year?” “I believe it was for winning a tournament, not fighting a war,” Lady Lillian sniped. Although Aurelia wasn’t too keen on siding with Ramel and could care less about how people chose to think of him, this time the matter was different. By insulting Ramel, Lady Lillian and the Elder were trying to humiliate the Romanov household, and she wasn’t going to stand by and watch like a silent spectator. “Not all boys need to die on the battlefield. In fact, I don’t think your
Ezra felt a tingling sensation in his right hand, and his thoughts immediately went back to that peculiar incident in his room. He quickly hid his right hand behind his back and then turned to Aurelia.Normally, whenever a system panel flickered into life, it would be visible to all in the nearby area. But strangely enough, no one seemed to be bothered by Ezra’s Gunsmithing screen.After staring at those present around him for a while, Ezra realized that they could not see his Gunsmithing system display, and the information floating in front of his eyes was only visible to him.Suddenly, Ezra felt an unbearable pain shooting up his right arm, and he could tell something was squirming under his skin. “Not again,” Ezra mumbled under his breath, his hands turning cold and his face rapidly losing color.Aurelia wanted to talk to Ezra and comfort him, but he hurried back to his room without a single word.Although Ezra was quite used to being ridiculed by those around him, things had gone
Ezra wasn’t too keen on trusting strangers, but since he was scraping the bottom of the barrel here, his desperation made him seek out every light no matter how faint.Though initially, Ezra had been blaming the eye for his condition, as he remembered the incident with the cursed hammer everything became clear.Ezra's arm was already crippled when he visited the museum, and the eye only manifested after he touched the cursed item. Everything added up, clearing all his doubts.While it was true that the eye had been feeding on his blood and consuming the healing herbs and potions to awaken from its dormant state, it no longer had any need to feed on Ezra’s life force.However, the eye and the mouth still continued absorbing a small fraction of Ezra's magic power to remain awake. Instead of hiding the truth, Gremory explained everything to Ezra and awaited his decision.“If I can’t get rid of you, I might as well use your knowledge to my advantage,” Ezra replied after a good deal of thin
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 fi
Ezra stared at the objectives flashing on his system screen and smiled. Completing shooting objectives was one of the fastest ways to increase magic power and obtain special perks which boosted one’s special skills or sometimes even modified them in unique ways.“I just need to kill ten Gloops and there are twelve of them here. This should not be too difficult,” Ezra mumbled to himself as he prepared to take his first shot.The smaller Common Gloops were relatively harmless creatures and could be killed even with a slingshot. However, Ezra was mainly concerned with the two larger ones accompanying them.Bloated Gloops were the overgrown adults of the Gloop colonies and were much more resistant to normal projectile attacks. The good thing was, every Gloop variant was vulnerable to magic and Ezra had just loaded his gun with magic bullets.As Ezra tried to curl his fingers around the grip of his revolver a sharp pain flared up in his right arm, causing him to grit his teeth. “I can…do t