[New Mission: Choose the Highlighted Weapons]
I made the system screen disappear so I could see the highlighted weapons clearly on the wall. They were twin short swords, twin pistols, and twin daggers. Six weapons in total, three pairs. Why the fuck was that?
I looked at the man beside me, confused.
"What is it?" he asked.
"My system chose six weapons for me: these two daggers, these two short swords, and those two pistols."
"Okay, no problem," the man said.
Then he picked one of the daggers from the wall.
"Let's start with the dagger," he said. "It's easy to use. Just hold it tight like this. It's a secondary weapon. You can hide it on your leg or somewhere so you can grab it when you need it.
"It's throwable too. You can throw it to a spot close to the enemy to activate its ability, or shoot it directly at them, or stab them in close-range fights.
"Stabbing is easy, so let's learn the throw. Hold it like this and just throw it like that. You need to get the right amount of rotation so it sticks like this."
The man threw the dagger and it hit dead center in the drawn circle on the wall. Then he took the other dagger from the wall and handed it to me.
"Your turn."
I held it the way he had and aimed, closing one eye. Then I threw it, but it hit the wall and dropped to the floor.
"We can't move to the next weapon until you learn this. Get it? Try again."
I kept trying and trying until it finally hit for the first time. But when I tried again, it missed. So I went back to training. I don't know why, but in my mind I had to do this. They needed me. We needed to take revenge, so I had to train like this. I had to focus.
After I focused more, I finally got it. I hit it ten times in a row like he wanted. It took time, but I didn't know how much.
"Okay, nice," the man said. "Now let's try the ability. Hey Scoob, stand there."
"What did you say, Bob?" The man named Scoob turned. He had been talking to the woman.
"Can you stand there so I can show him how to do this?" Bob said.
"Okay."
"Click this button," Bob said, "and throw it close to him like that. It has a five-meter range."
He threw it and it stuck on the wall near Scoob. Then it shot electric waves toward him and stunned him for a second, like he had been electrified.
"There are different abilities for these daggers and different levels," Bob said. "These are the daggers we have right now. Scooby is strong, that's why it only got him for one second. But in that second, you could kill him with your pistol. It's your turn. Try it on me."
I pushed the button and threw it. It stuck on the wall and stunned him for just a second, same as Scoob.
Bob pulled the dagger from the wall himself, walked over, and handed it to me along with the other one.
"Okay, these are your two daggers. Hide them wherever you want with this."
I hid both of them on my legs, one on the right and one on the left. I wrapped them with the straps that came with them, then covered them with my pants.
After Bob checked that my daggers were secure, he took the twin short swords.
"These are called the Magical Twin Dwarfs," Bob said. "You hang them on your back so you can draw them fast. You can stop bullets or different attacks with them and counterattack quickly, from short or long range.
"They have their own sword art. It takes some time to train with them, but you'll learn how to use them over time. They will train you themselves. Wear them on your back. They will call to you whenever they're needed. In time, you'll master them, if they like your company."
He helped me hang them on my back. I tried pulling them out and it was really easy. They felt very comfortable in my hands.
"Now to the twin pistols," he said. "They're slow like all magical modern weapons, so high-level opponents can avoid their bullets or stop them. But they're very helpful. You can kill low-level beasts with them. Stun with the dagger then shoot, or maybe your system will upgrade them. It chose them after all. Or you'll get stronger ones later."
He taught me how to use them. They were easy, and I hung them on my sides.
"Your three abilities are easy to use too. Climbing walls, you said?"
"Yeah."
"Can you show us?"
I showed them.
"Nice. That will work," he said. "Then Danger Sense. Have you tried it or do you know how it works?"
"No," I said.
"Okay, you'll figure it out with time. And Rapid Recovery, you already tried it. You recovered fast from that strong hit, so we're good to go. Let's go, guys. Are you ready, Leo?"
"Yes."
"Okay, let's go."
We started walking through the tunnel.
"What are we gonna do?" I asked him. I felt weird walking with two daggers hidden in my legs, two pistols on my sides, and two short swords on my back.
"We need to hit them back, and we need you to do it now," Bob said. "Their flying squadron are the ones who hit us. They're on the ceiling of the city tower, monitoring the monsters they let loose to attack the city.
"The tunnel will lead us to the city tower. What we need you to do is climb the tower from the outside, from the blind spot, until you reach the ceiling. You'll plant the magical bombs there on the blind spots, then get back down fast. It will explode the ceiling and kill them all."
I was already nervous. My heart pounded.
Bob put his hand on my shoulder. "It's okay to be nervous. It's okay to feel like that. You feel alive right now. But trust yourself. You can do this. You have to do this. They almost killed us, so we need to kill them before they fly away like bitches like they always do. Can you do that? Can you kill these damn flies?"
"Yes, sir," I said.
We kept walking until we reached a door in the ceiling of the tunnel.
"I'll go first to check," Bob said. "Scooby will show you how to set the bombs while I'm gone."
"Okay," I said.
Bob climbed the ladder. Scooby came over to me with a bag that was on the ground and opened it. Inside were four big hairy spiders.
I jumped back. "What the…"
"Come here. These are just spider bombs," Scooby said. "We have to use these. Normal bombs won't work on them, you know that."
"Yeah, sorry."
"Okay. Stick them on the wall like this. That's the only thing you have to do. When you get back, Bob will trigger the explosion by cracking this spider egg right here. Okay, try it."
I held the spider. I didn't feel as scared as I thought I would. I tried a couple of times before I got the feel for sticking it on the wall.
"Nice. There are four of these little fuckers," Scooby said. "Put one in every corner of the ceiling. They can't see you because the ceiling stuck out from all sides like a balcony. So plant the bombs directly in the four corners of it, then come down fast. Can you do that?"
"Yes, sir," I said.
"Okay, you can do it, son." Scooby put a hand on my shoulder, and the rest of them looked at me with a glimmer of hope in their eyes. "Go and kill these motherfuckers."
Then we all looked up as Bob came back down.
"It's clear," he said.
He took the bomb bag from Scooby, held the egg, and closed the bag.
"I'll carry the bag for you until we reach the window," Bob said, slinging it on his back. "Follow me closely until we get there. Are you ready?"
"Yes, sir," I said, already imagining him cracking the egg in his hand and the spider bombs exploding on his back, killing us along with the enemy before we even reach the window.