„I have to admit that your basics are really solid no matter which weapon you use. However, I'm still not sold on your idea of being a jack of all trades. Your time investment will be insane, but you still might not be able to win against a strong sword user. There is a reason why most people specialize in one weapon.
Furthermore, you haven't even touched ranged weapons yet."
Bennet really couldn't understand what went through Bai Jingshen's mind. Although Bei Jingshen had decent basics in all weapons, his sword usage was obviously far ahead. Bennet was sure, Bai Jingshen was professionally trained in the sword, but now he didn't want to concentrate on it. The instructor was curious about the story behind this change, but his recruit's lips were sealed shut when he tried to ask. While Bennet sighed, Bai Jingshen could only mutter an apology in his mind, before asking about the other topic Bennet brought up:
"I have never seen such a plethora of ranged weapons. Are they all similar in usage? Should I learn them?"
"I'm not sure if you want to learn them. Ranged weapons where the way to go in the past. When cultivation wasn't that advanced, a gun remained a serious threat. Back then even a child could fire the simplest laser pistol and defeat a Body Refinement Realm cultivator. However, even the best mana guns don't pose a threat to stronger cultivators. Especially since gene boosters exist, guns have fallen out of favor.
There are still a few gun specialists, but even they admit that guns have too many drawbacks. The most obvious is energy usage. In order to hurt someone at a higher cultivation stage you just need too much energy. The human body is a marvel of nature, able to store massive amounts of mana. You surely heard about how much Mana Crystals one can use for even the smallest increase in cultivation.
Therefore, even if someone just stands still and uses all their Mana for defense, you would still have to shoot them with thousands of Mana Crystal's worth of energy. No gun can store enough of those. That's why only stationary guns are in widespread use.
However, I think you should still try do deal with guns. It's no secret that a lot of scholars are working hard on making guns viable again. Furthermore, there are bionics, which make use of their user's own Mana. Many people think this would give us an advantage over the Great Cultivation World."
As Bai Jingshen listened to Bennet's explanation, he couldn't find any enthusiasm for guns. Even after Bennet already told Bai Jingshen about guns' biggest weakness, he still hadn't even explained one obvious problem: you had to hit your enemy. One might think with a gun shot's speed this should be easy, but Bai Jingshen was certain his Sea Of Consciousness would prove to be all ranged weapon's nemesis. It would simply boost his perception to such a high level, that he could already move before a gun was fired.
Even locking onto him with one's spirit, like ranged weapon users in the Great Cultivation World did, was hard, as someone would need a spirit of equal strength as his. The former emperor was confident that amongst the same cultivation realm someone like this was almost nonexistent.
However, Bai Jingshen had already decided on his path and was determined to walk it. Therefore he turned to Bennet after a short contemplation:
"Thanks for the explanation, let's try a few guns."
"Good. I'm no expert, but I'm still qualified to teach them. Just tell your AI to change the room into a shooting range."
As Bai Jingshen did just that, he was surprised as the first time in weeks, the bent wall slowly sank into the ground, opening the room to the outside. In the middle of the room an open locker emerged from the ground, containing all kinds of guns. Bai Jingshen looked up their explanation on his bracelet. They seemed to be standards for all kinds of categories, ranging from close range to wide distance shooting. Unfortunately, all of them had their power output throttled for training purposes.
Looking outside the room, one could see the same metallic ground as inside, closed of by transparent walls on all sides, which could also block any views if the trainee wished to do so. From Bai Jingshen's standpoint, he had a straight-line view at a skyscraper a few hundred feet away. He was already used to these buildings being covered in big advertisements. This time he was even able to understand, what the advertisement was for.
Just like many others, it turned out to be about the New World. A company named Ranger's Eye bragged about being able to scout out whatever you wished. Bai Jingshen was surprised, that such specialized companies existed, contrary to something like Thobar Bionics which had different divisions for everything. Bai Jingshen lost interest in the advertisements quickly though, as the next one wanted him to buy their new skin cream. Why would someone with his perfect skin ever need those??
Bai Jingshen finally turned his attention to Bennet. The instructor didn't say much and quickly grabbed the smallest mana pistol. Apart from old-school laser weapons, this gun represented the weakest on the market.
"Ok. Let me explain guns to you. This is a standard Mana pistol. They aren't really all that complicated. You just have to get a feel for them. You see this cartridge here?", Bennet started his explanation, pointing at the lower part of his weapon, "This is where Mana is stored in the form of Mana Cubes. It's called a magazine, an homage to ancient gunpowder weapons. At the same time it's the biggest factor holding back gun usage, as a badly handled Mana Cube is highly volatile. Mana Cubes are simply multiple, highly compressed Mana Crystals, which are used to power a lot of things.
Because Mana Cubes tend to explode rather easily through outside impact, Magazines need to be extremely stable, making them expensive on one side and really heavy on the other.
You can change your magazine easily if your out of ammo by simply pressing this button here on the grip, or telling your AI, which by the way will automatically connect to your weapon.
When you fire your weapon, a small part of the Mana Cube's energy will be converted here in the front part of your gun, while your remaining energy will be shown on this display. Most guns also come with some helpful gadgets like a feature to help you correct your shooting trajectory. You can simply turn those on and of with your AI. In the beginning you probably need a laser pointer or a scope, but you will quickly realize, that if you rely on them, people will have an easy time dodging your shots. Most gun enthusiasts have special bionics or use their third eye at higher cultivation realms."
While Bennet explained everything about gun usage to Bai Jingshen, he could already get a good idea about the strength of guns, as someone in the room adjacent to his continuously fired shots at a few targets in front of him.
As Bennet didn't seem to be a big gun fan, Bai Jingshen didn't hold them in high regard too, but he had to admit, that the strength of the gun being shot still impressed him. Each of these shots could probably rival a punch from an average 9th stage Body Refinement Realm cultivator.
Finally, Bennet was done with talking and handed the gun over to Bai Jingshen. He ordered General Mao to provide him with the same setup as his neighboring room. Mao instantly set everything up and a yellow line was projected onto the ground in the room's center, on top of that different sized targets appeared at the outermost wall outside of his room, while a light blue shimmer faintly covered their surroundings as protection in case of stray shots.
Bai Jingshen positioned himself behind the yellow line. He slowly raised his weapon with one arm and decided to focus on the centermost target. He concentrated for a few seconds before he confidently pressed the trigger and… missed by two meters.
Suddenly he heard Bennet next to him explode with laughter.
"Ha! I really thought you were good at everything, but what was that shot? Did you drink some wine just now when I wasn't looking?"
Bai Jingshen turned towards Bennet while rolling his eyes.
"You old man! You didn't explain everything to me, right? Come on, spit it out."
"Haha. Good, you got me there. What do you think why only specialists use guns? It's because of environmental Mana. All your shots will be influenced by Mana in the air. Therefore, you must carefully feel those Mana Streams around you. Furthermore, you even have to have an above average sensitivity in order to be fast and precise. You should try again, but if you don't hit anything just give it up."
Bai Jingshen was still looking at Bennet with a slightly annoyed look. At first he wanted to train his basics and shoot without using his Sea Of Consciousness. From what Bennet said he thought only at higher cultivation realms would everyone utilize their divine sense, but now it seemed that shooting a mana gun without special senses was basically impossible.
Therefore, Bai Jingshen decided to cheat and simply activated his spirit. Although he didn't have a divine sense yet, but his spirit still heightened his senses immensely. Without looking away from Bennet, Bai Jingshen suddenly raised his gun again, shot, and… hit his target right in the middle. With a smug grin he watched as Bennet's jaw dropped.