"Shall we?"
A devious smirk was plastered on Aidan's face. He had already known Gana was ex-military and that she knew how to operate with guns. So, instead of digging his own grave, he gambled that she never had used a bow before. However, he also did not know how to use a bow!
Although that may be, he would rather take the risk even if he had a small chance at winning. After all, she had far more experience with battle and long ranged weaponry than he had. But he would rather take a shot in the dark than pass up an opportunity to humiliate her. Thinking along those lines, Aidan continued in a gloating manner.
"What's this? You thought I would be dumb enough to challenge you at shooting? You, an ex-militant? Please, give me a break."
His mocking tone felt like grates grinding by Gana's ears, irritating to listen to. But, strangely, her negative outlook flipped as a playful smile replaced her previously grim expression. Her eyes twinkled with confidence whilst she looked at him like a predator would to a prey. He immediately thought something was wrong.
"Heh, we'll see about that."
Hesitation covered Aidan's face, he felt something was wrong with her attitude. Why was she so confident? Why did she give him that look? However, he knew he could not back out or else he would be made fun of for the rest of his life. He had to grit his teeth and walk forward! His pride was on the line!
Determination filled his heart as he threw Gana's suspicious actions at the back of the mind. He began walking towards the scarred militant.
They both approached the intimidating stall owner as he handed them both to what looked like an elongated black piece of glass that covered half of their palm. After so, he pressed his fingers onto both of the strange black screens where, suddenly, blue light began covering in great torrents. Formulating the words, 'Single-player', 'Multiplayer' and 'Competitive'. Without hesitation, the man selected 'Multiplayer' and scrolled through a plethora of images that were unique to one another, settling only on a basic shooting range located to what looked like a blue moon. Aidan watched with confusion, not understanding what the man was doing. There was a shooting range right behind him, why weren't they using that?
Unfortunately, before he could voice his thoughts, the man, after tweaking with a few settings, gazed away from the screen, and looked at both of them in clear disinterest, speaking quickly but not forgoing any important bits.
"The arena has been set up, both of you just need to put the Virtual Screen onto your eyes and your virtual selves will teleport onto the shooting range. Once inside, an AI will slowly explain the rules, if you missed anything then don't complain to me after. I hate complaints."
Having finished with what he needed to say, the man returned behind the stall, standing with disinterest as always. The crowd around, however, was the opposite.
"Hey, look at that, a kid wants to fight with that tall lady over there."
"Where… Ahhh that kid is screwed. I can tell with a glance that the lady over there had military training. What gun did they select?"
"Well… I overheard their conversation and apparently they hadn't chose a shooting range for guns… In fact, they didn't choose a gun at all. They went directly with Archery!"
"Archery? When was the last time that was picked…? Well, whatever, it surely will be boring to watch since this ex-military woman will absolutely thrash this kid."
"Yeah… But I'm still going to stick around a bit. Who knows? Maybe he'll surprise us."
At this point, most of the crowd either looked away to watch other shooting ranges or walked up to the stall owner to have a go at one. Few stuck around and watched them, though with not too much interest as they too believed the kid was going to lose.
Feeling slightly bewildered, Aidan looked at the screen for a moment before turning to Gana, who had an expressionless face as she sat down by one of the chairs near the stall and placed the black piece of glass just over her eyes. Within the next moment she was motionless.
Watching her behavior, he then turned to other people near the stalls and saw the exact same scene. Everyone who had a Virtual Screen, be it standing or sitting, held the object near their eyes as they remain motionless like statues. Aidan, at this point, had already realized that the object he was holding was just an invention of Magitech and could not help but study it closely. Wondering how a simulation of different worlds could exist in this small piece of glass. He could only reaffirm the wonders of Magitech in his heart and study it with scrutiny.
However, before he could look at it any further, an annoyed exclaim sounded by his side.
"Oi, are ya going in or not?!"
Aidan turned his gaze in shock towards the motionless Gana. Apparently, you still had consciousness outside the virtual world and could still interact with people there. And here he thought that no one knew what was going on once they enter. He could only blame his ignorance.
Thinking up until this point, Aidan started to get excited as a fiendish razer-sharp smile, which startled many onlookers, appeared on his face. Without noticing their strange gazes, he went by Gana and sat next to her, bringing up the device to his eyes in the process. In the next moment, however, a flash of blue light erupted from the device and filled his vision, taking him into a white world where a mist of blue covered his view.
Startled, Aidan surveyed the lifeless white and blue world in a hurry, panicking once he realized he could not find Gana or any other living being. He started to worry if something bad had happened. However, his worry was baseless as a relaxing, yet familiar blue light covered his body, calming him down significantly. Feeling the panic wash away, a sense of relief appeared within him as Aidan took a deep virtual breath. After recollecting himself, he began feeling the connection between his virtual self and his real body, wiping any sense of reservation that he had.
However, as if on cue, the blue mist around him started to form into recognizable and readable characters, giving him an indication on what's to come.
[Analyzing Player]
[New Player Detected]
[Compiling Body Structure]
[Half-Human, Half-Beastman (Crow Variant)
…
[Analyzing Complete]
[Please select an ID]
Watching the process, Aidan had a childish curiosity, playing with the words as they vanish and reform every time he swung his arms at it. This continued for a while until the words stop forming and appeared in front of him.
'ID? Like a name…?'
[Please select an ID]
Noticing that the words got bigger with every passing moment, Aidan quickly voiced out a name.
"Phoenix."
[Name already taken]
"Crimson Lord."
[Name already taken]
"Super Fire Lord!"
[Name already taken]
Aidan got more and more irritated as more and more ridiculous names flowed out of his mouth like a stream.
"Flaming Sword Killer!"
[Name already taken]
"Universe Destroying Flame!!"
[Name already taken]
"God of the Universal Flame, Lord of the Sun, Sea and Moon!!!"
[Name already taken]
"HOW?! WHO WOULD USE SUCH A RIDICULOUS NAME?!"
[Name already taken]
Shocked, angry, helpless, a storm of emotion stirred within Aidan as his knees buckled and kneeled in resignation.
"… Little Flame…"
[Name Available. Do you confirm this to be your ID from now on? It will be used whenever you use our company's products.]
With a blank look, Aidan could only reply monotonously.
"Yes."
[ID Confirmed]
[We at {Black Star Inc} thank you for using our universal wide services and hope that you will continue to do so!]
[Good luck!]
A flash of blue light covered Aidan after he had read the last sentence, covering his body head to toe with the same blue mist that used to surround him. Before he could even blink, a sense of déjà vu appeared as the same flash of light that brought him to the white world filled his eyesight once again.
Immediately after he appeared, he surveyed his surroundings with scrutiny, finding himself on top a dark blue moon floating in the middle of space. Feeling a sense of wonder, he then turned his gaze to the right where he could spot a familiar female figure fiddling with a slick compound bow. Near her, he could see a long black table floating mid-air, showcasing a plethora of bows of all different shapes and sizes. Keeping the company's name, {Black Star Inc}, in mind he then slowly walked towards the figure, bringing his presence to light.
"There ya are! What took ya so long?!"
With the same loud voice and rowdy attitude, Gana immediately smiled at the approaching Aidan. Guiding him towards the weapons strewn across the floating table.
"Sorry, picking a name took a really long time! Everything I thought of was already used and so I could only pick 'Little Flame'… But seriously, who names themselves God of the Universal Flame, Lord of the Sun, Sea and Moon…"
Hearing up to there, Gana immediately burst into a hysterical laughter, holding her virtual stomach in absolute hilarity.
"HAHAHAHA GOD- GOD- GOD OF THE UNIVERSAL FLAME HAHAHA. YER' REALLY ARE A KID."
Listening to her piercing laughter, Aidan began blushing in embarrassment, only to get incredibly mad within the next moment. Revealing his gritted sharp teeth, he spoke in defiance.
"I'm not a kid anymore! I swear! I just… said it cause' I was mad, okay?!"
"Yeah… sure kid."
Aidan felt frustrated beyond his mind. He had only said a ridiculous name in anger, not because he wanted to use it. Yet, she does not believe him one bit, thinking that was the name he originally wanted to go with. With a fierier mood and fearing that he would get made fun of even more, he stomped his way to the table without a word, kicking up blue moon dust in the process, and selected a small bow he felt best suited him. Though a hint of confusion flashed through his eyes since he did could not find any arrows near the bows.
But his confusion was short lived since he thought the arrows will appear later. He turned his gaze to the weapon in his hand and studied it with awe. It had short yet sharp dark blue limbs that curved into an impressive shape, connected by a vibrant neon blue string strung from one nock to the other. He gazed the impressive bow that had both class and majesty, feeling a sense of safety and reliability emitting off it. Like it was telling him everything will be fine.
It felt strange to him, as if he were reunited with something that used to be a part of him but was lost a long time ago.
However, before he could explore this feeling, a robotic female voice suddenly appeared all around them. Startling him awake from his thoughts as he focused on his surroundings, spotting a large blue screen that unknowingly appeared in the sky.
[Welcome to the Archery range. There are four rules to follow, so be sure to listen well.]
[Each person is given 10 arrows and only one may go at a time. Once you are ready, you may step behind the red line, but do not go beyond it. Stepping over the red line will result in disqualification and any arrow shot after will not be counted. After you had been disqualified, any current points you had obtained before will be counted and ranked, so do not mess up!]
[Every target you manage to hit will give you points, there are outer rings, inner rings, and the bullseye situated on all targets. You can only hit each target once, after so, the target will 'die' and you must go for a new one. This is a game that heavily simulates reality and will not tolerate 'easy' wins. After all, you will not shoot a target that is already dead. The closer you get to the bullseye the more points you will get, only obtaining max points once you hit a dead center.]
[Misses will grant no points, but near misses at long range targets will be credited with risk points. Keep in mind, however, that risk points are mere 'participation' rewards that give barely any points and does not truly demonstrate your skill in Archery, so it is recommended to focus on targets within your skill range.]
[If a target that is moving or covered by obstacles, or both, was hit then you will be credited points that are only inferior to long range targets, with a few extremely difficult cases that will reward more. The person with the most points will win.]
[Now that you have an idea about the rules, the match may now begin. Good luck Players!]
Whilst the robotic voice was informing the pair, the weapons table disappeared as a huge range shockingly started to form at a visible rate. Before them, targets of all shapes and sizes started to rise from the surface of the blue moon, placed in various locations of the site. Some hid behind obstacles, others did not, some are small whilst others are big. Each variant requiring a different set of skills to complete, short range, long range, penetration, and more. Aidan began thinking that this was not going to be as simple as he thought it was.
With a grim look, he glanced at Gana only to find her staring right back at him with a devilish smile. She cackled like a witch as she watched his face turn darker.
"Kekeke, yer' such a wimp, it's only a few targets - it won't bite. Here, let yer' master show ya how it's done and maybe ya will learn a thing or two."
"You're not my master."
"Heh, not now at least"
Aidan watched Gana arrogantly walk before the red line, stopping only a few inches away from it. Her grin was wiped away, replaced with a serious expression as she raised her toned yet fair arms onto the neon blue string. Clearly, she was taking this competition all too seriously.
'OI! I'm just a kid, why are you trying so hard?!'
Unfortunately, his cries were not heard as she pulled back the neon string to its utter limit. Immediately, a blue energy seeped from the string and formed into a sharp energy arrow of the same color, ready to be launched at a moments notice. Without hesitation nor a change in expression, Gana released the string and sent the arrow whizzing through the air, ignoring most of the closer targets and going straight for a one of the targets located in the middle of the range.
*THUCK*
Like an eagle sweeping in on its prey, the arrow hit the target dead center. Vanishing as a blue energy began to take form in numbers.
+100pts
Aidan's jaw hit the ground in shock as his eyes widened with disbelief. A maelstrom of emotions started to weigh heavily on his heart, with the feeling of regret prevailing the most. He started to curse within his mind, blaming his own stupidity and ignorance for even accepting the bet in the first place. His gamble had failed.
'Are you shitting me? Was this a shot a beginner could do?! Is this a shot I could do?! SHE CLEARLY LOOKS EXPERIENCED AT THIS'
Gana, being as inconsiderate as she had always been, did not care for the boy's emotions. For only the tears of a misbehaving child that came to know the feeling of defeat could make her stop! Her back straightened with an aura of a hero as pulled the string to its limit, forming the memorable blue arrow in between her fingers once again.
*SWISH* *SWISH* *SWISH*
Like an automatic rifle, she began releasing one arrow after the other in short intervals. Each hitting its mark as blue numbers started to appear all over the front and middle section of the field.
+100pts
+80pts
+90pts
+120pts
…
Finally, on her 10th and final arrow, she turned towards Aidan and, with what looked to the boy a shit-eating grin, released the arrow without looking. He watched the arrow as it flew through the air like a soaring bird, emitting a piercing sound as it went further than any arrow she had fired previously. Aidan could only look on with a dead eyes as it began to descend with a flash of light, giving him the impression of a bolt of lightning keen with intent to destroy!
*THUCK*
He needed to look at the arrow once to understand where it was headed. And, without any hiccups, the arrow landed dead center in a target on the border of the long-range field. The blue energy flaring like never before as the target vanished in its place.
+220pts
[Competitor 'Ya Wanna Fight?!' obtained 1030pts]
Suddenly, a blue screen appeared in the air, formulating words which made Aidan grimace. Feeling like he was cheated, Aidan gazed at the annoying face of the tall figure, his two large feathers on his head flaring with wrath. However, without a single ounce of shame nor with the grace of an adult, Gana had grin that went ear-to-ear, chuckling like a little girl as she returned the fuming boys' gaze.
"Yer' turn."
He REALLY wanted to punch her.