Cynthia went to the closest shooting room and set up her N200 on the bench rest. Since she wouldn't deplete any ammo when practicing here, she could practice with as many rounds of ammunition as she needed. With everything ready, she got behind the gun and aimed down the sight.
"Phew, ok. This thing is pretty heavy for me. I don't think I'll be able to shoot standing up with it very well." She commented on the weight of it.
"[It's fine. It's not meant to be used while standing anyway. Go ahead and put in some ear protection and take a few practice shots before I give you some pointers. Get a feel for the weapon. Don't rush it, just take your time. No one becomes an expert in a day.]" Dags wanted her to first get used to the recoil and muzzle blast without worrying too much about accuracy. After all, this was quite a hefty round she was shooting.
Cynthia sat down on the seat behind her rifle, and tried to find a comfortable position behind her 1-8x magnification scope. From what Dags could tell, she was too close to the scope. It was quite likely she could get hit by it when she fired due to the recoil kicking back into her shoulder.
"[Don't put your face so close to the scope, it cou-]" Before Dags was able to send her the warning, Cynthia fired her N200. Just like he thought, the recoil pushed hard back against her shoulder and the scope hit her in the eye.
[-1 HP]
A single point of damage was dealt to Cynthia in a humiliating fashion.
"Owwww!" Cynthia held her eye in pain, even though it shouldn't hurt nearly as much in the game. It was likely more from surprise than actual pain. The pain from the scope smacking her face and the loud roar of the weapon had shocked her quite a bit.
["I apologize, I'm afraid I was too late in warning you. Putting your eye too close to the scope will result in that happening. Plus, you won't be able to see very well that close with the eye relief being wrong.]" Dags shook his head. It was not all that uncommon for people unfamiliar with weapons to make this mistake. It's always a painful lesson.
"Ugh, yeah, thanks." Cynthia grumbled under her breath after getting over the shock. Her face was bright red from shame. She picked up the end of her rifle again, adjusting her position until it felt right when looking down the scope.
"[That's much better. Now again, take your time and learn how it feels to shoot this. Get used to the recoil, the manual cycling of the bolt, and try not to close your eyes when firing.]"
Cynthia didn't speak this time, opting to nod instead. She took a deep breath and started firing her weapon one after another. After 30 minutes she still couldn't reliably hit the target at 100 meters down the range. In total, she had scored 1 hit entirely by luck. Even that was barely on the edge of it. She was starting to get frustrated, but she had gotten over the concussion blast from the weapon. She had stopped flinching so much from the resulting recoil and blast wave that she felt in her chest.
"[Don't worry too much about the misses. This part of the practice was purely to get you used to how it feels to fire the N200. Now that you aren't nearly as affected by it, let's move on to accuracy.]" Dags consoled her.
Cynthia let out a deep breath, trying to let go of her frustration. It was harder than she thought to get good at this. Still, she wanted to understand what she was doing wrong and how to get better.
"I'll do my best to learn, Professor Dags!" She said, psyching herself up.
"Professor? I've never really been a teacher before…" Dags waved that thought away and began instructing her on how to improve her aim.
"[First of all, stay calm when trying to hit your target. Getting angry and frustrated will only worsen your aim. Slow down your breathing and heart rate. Once in a calm state, take a long, slow breath. In that slight pause in between breaths, take the shot. Go ahead and give it a try.]" Dags finally gave some real instructions for her. There was plenty to teach, but it would take time. He just had to teach her it bit by bit.
Cynthia closed her eyes, taking deep breaths and calming her heart down. After a few seconds, she opened her eyes. She was visibly more steady this time around. After another few cycles of breaths, she finally took her shot at the pause in her breathing.
*Ting!*
She had hit the target the first shot, albeit barely. It was again on the very edge of the metal plate. Dags nodded his head. She was a quick learner, but there was still improvement to be made. Dags had a feeling he knew what was making her shot go so far off target.
"Mr. Dags, I did it!" Cynthia jumped up happily that she got it on the first shot this time, even if it barely counted.
"[Well done. You managed to pull off that technique very well for a first timer. Of course, you can still do better. This time when taking the shot, don't jerk your finger back. Get a feel for how much force the trigger takes, and give it a smooth pull until it fires. Pulling hard against the trigger will shift your aim quite a lot.]" After some more advice, she nodded so much that she was like a bobblehead.
"Alright Mr. Dags, I'll give that a try." She sat down behind the gun again and repeated the technique from before. She put the center of the target in her crosshairs. When she was at a slow pause in between breaths again, she took the shot with a slow pull.
*Ting!*
The target was hit again, but still barely. Cynthia sat up, confused on why it didn't work.
"I did as you said, didn't I? What did I do wrong this time?" She asked in puzzlement.
"[Correct, you did as I said, but too slowly this time. You had already taken your next breath by the time you pulled the trigger, throwing off your aim. Continue practicing with it until you can get the timing and force both right.]" Dags was actually amazed that she was able to hit the target twice in a row, although not where she wanted to.
"She definitely wasn't used to firearms before. Perhaps she's a natural at it with the proper guidance?" he couldn't help but think.
Along with some more pointers from Dags, Cynthia improved her aim over the course of 4 hours in the game. She still missed from time to time, but now she was far more consistent. She no longer got frustrated from the misses, and simply listened to Dags' insight on what went wrong and how to correct it. After such a long practice session, Cynthia was able to hit every three out of five shots on the center of the target at 100 meters. Of course, for a sniper that wasn't a huge distance, but it was a start. She had improved immensely for someone having no experience with guns. At least, now, she wouldn't fumble around in the dark.
Cynthia packed up her things and slung her rifle over her back once again. She had a huge smile on her face as she did so, excited by the improvements she had made in these 4 hours. She could finally somewhat qualify as a marksman. She knew she had to get even better though, so she wanted to improve even more!
"[Well done Cynthia. You've come a long way from the girl ignorant of how to properly use firearms. I'm sure you can do quite well for yourself in the game now.]" Dags smiled and commended her. She showed incredible promise, and he wished to help her even more in the future.
"It's all thanks to you Mr. Dags. You've helped me so much, and there's nothing I can do to repay you." Her smile grew even brighter as Dags praised her.
"[You can repay me by getting stronger, as that makes me stronger as well.]"
"Ah, that's right! I'll do my best to make sure we can become the strongest duo ever!" Cynthia let out a loud voice for once in her excitement, looking quite pumped up.
Dags chuckled in his dark space. Her optimistic attitude was cute to him.
"[I look forward to our continued partnership,Miss Cynthia.]"
"Mhm, likewise!" With that, Cynthia stepped back out into the lobby of the Resolute.
"Oh, Miss [Formless Mist]! There's been an additional development that I think you should know about!" Just as Cynthia arrived in the lobby, Remia called out to her and waved her over. She looked quite anxious.
"Miss Remia? What's the problem?" Cynthia tilted her head in confusion at Remia's weary look.
"Ah, sorry I've been awake all night thanks to that information you gave us. The mercenaries have been coming and going constantly. Anyway, you know that [Giant Rat] hoard you told us about? Well there's been new information gathered from those that went out to exterminate them."
Cynthia nodded, waving for Remia to continue on. Remia had to pause for a moment to catch her breath and have a bit of her energy drink to reinvigorate herself.
"Well, some mercenaries discovered a [Giant Rat Queen] in the sewer system. They nearly got wiped out when they got swarmed by the hoard protecting the queen. Of the 5 man Iron ranked team, only two of them made it out. Mr. Redfield has already contacted the guards about this issue, but they say the mercenaries can take care of this minor problem." Remia shook her head when recalling the guards who brushed off the issue. Did they not care about their citizen's safety?
"So what is Mr. Redfield going to do?" Cynthia asked curiously.
"He's going to personally lead a large team of mercenaries down there to exterminate that [Giant Rat Queen]. He says he'll pay a large sum out of his own pocket to hire them all. Many have already come forward to join." Remia continued her explanation.
"I see, but what does that have to do with me? Something like that is far outside my ability to deal with, I think." Cynthia scratched her head. She merely provided the information about the hoard. With her low level and class type, she had thought that she would leave others to deal with it. At that moment, a low and gruff voice sounded from behind her.
"No, I think you now have the ability to help. I'd like to invite you to join us on the mission, little miss."