Bang, bang, bang! The sound of shots being fired resounded through the firing range. 

Nael was currently in the middle of a set. With movements as refined as the most dexterous sharpshooters, he reflexively reloaded the Peacemaker. The empty shells dropped to the floor, giving way for six more to flow in. 

The shopkeeper was right. The recoil is really easy to control. 

There was barely even a "recoil" from the revolver. All Nael could feel was a slight push that seemed to send the front of the gun reeling a few inches backward. The handle seemed completely uninterrupted, helping him to maintain a steady grip on the revolver as he continued to unleash hell on the targets in front of him. 

My accuracy is terrible, though. I'm barely getting headshots. 

Nael had initially told the shopkeeper to set the targets to be stationary, but he quickly found them to be too easy. It was only when he allowed them to move did the difficulty suddenly spiked. The targets seemed to move spasmodically, completely unlike how normal humans moved. 

After a minute more of shots, the targets eventually stopped moving. Nael took off the headphones he was wearing and stared at the screen to his side. It showed the amount of shots he had hit, and the distribution of where they landed. 

Out of the one hundred and twenty shots he had taken, sixty-seven of them managed to land. Twenty of those that landed were headshots.

Practice makes perfect, I guess. I'm sure I'll get better the more I shoot. 

"I'll be honest, I didn't think you had it in you, kid. Keep it up, and you might be a famous sharpshooter one day.'' The shopkeeper clapped. 

"Thanks. Say, could I buy this off off you? I need to practice with it."

"I'll sell it to you at a steep price. It's just been gathering dust for the past decade, so I ain't got no qualms about giving it away." 

Didn't think he'd part with it so easily. And here I thought the gun was a family heirloom or something. 

***

Once Nael paid for the revolver, he returned home. As he entered the front garden, a few of the maids came to greet him. 

He handed the case containing the Peacemaker to one of them. "Take this to my room, please. I'll come for it once I'm done eating."

Nael had spent around three hours inside the firing range. It was nearing night, and the sun had begun to set. He was feeling hungry, so he headed straight for the dining room to look for Nasha. 

He found her in the kitchen, ordering the other servants around. 

"Hey, Nasha."

"Oh? Master Nael, welcome home. My apologies, I wasn't able to greet you. Are you hungry?"

"Yeah, a little bit. How's Stephanie? Has she come down yet?"

"She came down a few hours ago to eat lunch but went straight to the gaming room upon finishing. Should I order the servants to fetch her?"

She's probably in the middle of something. I don't want to force her out of the game. 

"No, that's okay. I'll just have dinner once it's ready. And could you see if we have enough space in the backyard to construct a small firing range? I recently bought a revolver, and I'm planning to use one in-game. I want to practice it before I get my hands on it."

"I shall get to it right away, Nael. Don't worry, I'm sure we can get the construction workers to use a Phase Builder."

Technology had evolved rapidly during the past hundred years. One particular invention that helped minimize the time required to build structures was the Phase Builder. Cutting-edge technology had made it so that companies could render entire buildings in the span of a single day. These buildings were often twice as durable as normal ones, and sometimes cheaper. 

Unfortunately, they couldn't get them to use the Phase Builder inside to make the Pod room, so they had to wait a bit longer for it to be finished. 

"That's good to hear. I'll be waiting in the dining room for supper."

***

Once Gael had finished dinner, he headed straight for the Pod room, planning to log back into Antoria Online. 

As he rested on the Pod's comfortable bed, he slowly closed his eyes, allowing unconsciousness to take him.

Gael's vision returned a second later, and he was now in the same bed he had slept in. 

The pub was quiet today. It was Sunday, meaning it was closed. Unlike most other establishments, the pub didn't operate on this day, perhaps to remind its patrons that they had a life outside of drinking and partying. 

Maybe this is their way of telling them to touch grass, heh. Still, I'm grateful for the rest. 

Although Gael said this, he wasn't actually planning on resting today. There were only two days left before the Autumn Festival ended, and he had to make sure he could use Inveridium by that time. 

For the most part, the memorization process was easy. Sera's comment about using Message to help make sure the information sunk in seemed to have been true. Gael found it rather easy to call upon his invocations without stuttering. 

To make sure he wouldn't disturb anybody while he practiced, Gael made sure to do all his invoking outside, behind the pub. There was an open field there that didn't seem to have anything, so he felt it was as good a place to train as any. 

"Sindro, sinsum!"

Gael could feel it. His movement had suddenly quickened. His legs felt lighter than a feather, and his stamina seemed endless. To make sure it really worked, he ran around the open field for a whole minute. To his surprise, he wasn't tired at all after the minute had passed.

That was the first level spell, Quicken. From what Sera had told him, it was meant to be used as a buff to give a person a slight boost in speed and a greater resistance to exhaustion. 

That's just one of the buffs in the spell list. Let's check out some of the ones that increase strength. 

Gael recalled the many phrases Sera had Messaged him. His mind ran through everything related to Benefaction magic, from the Holy types that served to smite foes down, to the ones that buffed his luck, and even the ones that simply worked to ward off evil. Gael's mind stopped on one particular spell. 

Like a machine working automatically, his lips began to purse dramatically. He sucked in a greater amount of air and made sure his voice was as clear as possible. 

"Aradz, hamza lier!"

He felt the effect the moment he finished the chant. For some reason, Gael could feel a surge of power emanating from his entire body. It was euphoric, akin to a sense of empowerment from taking artificial enhancements. 

It wasn't just his arms that felt more powerful. His legs did too. Bracing himself for a leap, Gael bent his thighs, bringing himself closer to the ground. Then, when he felt his lower body yell for release, he pushed himself off the ground as hard as he could. 

Whoa! Did not expect that. 

Although it was unintentional, Gael had managed to leap over five meters in the air. That was more than twice the world record set by normal humans. 

I feel like a rabbit. Jumping seems so easy now. 

Gael wasn't planning on stopping there. He wanted to go through the entire list of spells he had been taught by Sera. He needed a visual presentation on each one to make sure he could calculate the perfect moment to invoke specific spells while in the midst of battle. 

The Benefaction tree was made up of hundreds of spells, and just the first level had more than a dozen. Gael prioritized memorizing buffs and blessings while keeping the minority limited to self-defense-oriented spells. 

His plan was to always stay as far as possible from the action. If he could practice invoking each phrase clearly, concisely, and most of all, quickly, he believed he would not need to get involved directly in battle. 

That is if the Evergreen Protectors are actually up to the task. I know they're probably good at their job, given their popularity, but I can never be too safe.