Volume 7 - CH 8

Chapter 8: Water Gun

Atlantis 11:30 AM

As I was in the situation of wanting to ask about everything, but being unable to get the chance to ask anything, the second competition was about to begin.

Then, I received a-thunderbolt-out-of-a-clear-sky kind of news.

“Really?”

Inside the same lounge, the five-colored rooster head looked as if he won the first prize, as he became completely excited over what Gasai had just said.

“That’s right, because there were changes in the situation of the third competition, the General Assembly had thus announced a change to the competition last night. Starting from the second competition onwards, every team must have a minimum of three players competing on stage, with a maximum of five players. If a team originally did not have enough players, they can use the backup players; if that’s still not enough, then they are able to select and promote new players from their own academy. Before the third competition begins, each team must hand in the name list.” Gasai took out a copy of the data from the file holder in his hands, and handed it to Senior, who was sitting on the sofa. “Which is to say, we’re allowed to change the name list a second time.”

Hearing this news, the five-colored rooster head was totally happy, which just so happened to be a strong contrast to my gloominess.

To be honest, I really wanted to go back to being the odd-job man. Now I suddenly felt that when Senior helped to set me up as the odd-job man before, it was one of the best job titles in the world.

Believe me, compared to being a player, it really is one of the best.

Senior flipped through the documents in his hands, “A minimum of three…”

Our team originally has only two official players and two backups, so he’d need to pick at least one of them to go up on stage.

“Senior!” The five-colored rooster head used a kind of sparkling, shining eyes to look at him.

Please, just choose the five-colored rooster head, that way the three of you would be enough.

“Since all of us are within the range, then all four of us are going to be written down.” Senior used a kind of tone like he was talking about how nice the weather was, and handed the documents back to Gasai.

No——-!

How can you treat me so cruelly!?

Red eyes looked over at me, “Chu, we’re going to be risking our lives on the stage, while you’d just be watching a good show as a backup player, wouldn’t that be inexcusable? Especially since your illusionary weapon has already been formed. For new users, it’s best to take the opportunity to practice more so that they can quickly grasp how to use it. This is the best opportunity for you to bring it into play.” He curved into a very evil smile, which made me realize that he had deliberately dragged me down with him.

I can practice with aluminum cans and bring it into play on my own, really.

The five-colored rooster head jumped towards me, hooking his arm around my neck hard. There was a second where I felt that he probably wanted to snap my neck off and not to hook it. “Yang~ we finally have the chance to join hands and fight against the enemies! Let’s drive these invaders out of our motherland!”

Motherland your head!

It’d be best if this was our motherland!

Where did you go and learn this nonsense from again!?

“That’s right, speaking of your illusionary weapon being formed, what does it look like? I don’t think I’ve ever seen it before.” The five-colored rooster head finally noticed this problem. As a matter of fact, because after I’d finished using it, I was carried to the medical team and slept for three days; afterwards I didn’t go out, so it should be normal for him to have not seen it. “You little brat aren’t thinking of keeping it for yourself, right!?”

“I’m innocent, Sir!” I really didn’t think of doing that at all!

“Then hurry up and take out the evidence!”

“Yes…”

Wait a minute! Why was I acting along with him!?

Sometimes when you spend too much time with a mentally ill person, you’d become mentally ill yourself.

I took out the blue illusionary soybean from my pocket. It was still a clear water blue, but I felt that the totem on top of it seemed to have become a little different, and yet it didn’t seem to have changed either. It felt really strange.

“Chu, you can go to the left shopping street to buy a chain and hang it on your body, so that it’s more convenient. The left shopping street have shops that specifically sell chains for hanging illusionary weapons. Other than that, they also sell storage boxes. Both of these items can provide recuperation for illusionary weapons, it’s a lot better than randomly placing them.” Gasai gave out some suggestions beside me.

Storage boxes?

“Oh, alright, thank you.” I took a look at the soybean, thought for a while, and decided that it would be better to buy one for her.

“Yang~ hurry up and activate it for me.” The five-colored rooster head issued an impatient urging sound. I looked at the illusionary soybean in my hand, and suddenly there was a second where I forgot how to initiate it.

“If you forget it during a real battle, then you can just wait to be killed off by the enemy.” Senior was lying very lazily on the sofa’s armrest, as he threw such a chilly and suspected-to-be-adding-insult-to-injury sort of sentence.

“Aih…that…” To be honest, I seemed to have really forgotten it. I usually see other people activating it, and once it’s my turn to use it, I just suddenly forgot it completely.

Begging Senior for help would definitely earn me a second bucket of cold water, and the five-colored rooster head doesn’t use weapons, so there’s a seventy percent chance that he wouldn’t know either. With tears in my eyes, I could only look at senior Gasai, who was likewise watching on curiously beside me.

“Don’t worry, sometimes this kind of situation would also appear. Just chant it a couple times and you’ll remember.” Gasai coughed, causing me to feel that he was probably comforting me. “The activation request chant is, ‘yǔ wǒ qiāndìng qìyuē zhī wù, qǐng ràng □□□jiànshì nǐ de □□□’. The muted words in the middle are decided as per the situation. It can be changed, and in addition, personal habits would sometimes differ, and the chant won’t be exactly the same, but the general meaning would be the same. Other than that, it’d also be different for special cases of the activation, for example, the activation chant for the secondary change. During that time, you’ll have to adjust it according to your weapon’s attribute. However, when you’re just starting out, the initial form would be enough.”

[T/N: The one who signed a contract with me, please allow the □□□to witness your□□□.]

A secondary change?

I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone using a secondary change.

“Try it out.” Gasai smiled as he encouraged me.

“Alright.” Looking at the illusionary soybean in my palm, I took a deep breath, “Yǔ wǒ qiāndìng qìyuē zhī wù, qǐng ràng…hàoqí zhě jiànshì nǐ de xíng.”

T/N: The one who signed a contract with me, please allow the…curious onlookers to witness your form.]

Then, the illusionary soybean issued a chiming sound.

***

The five-colored rooster head’s eyes were wide open and rounded as he stared at me.

“It’s just this?”

I glared back at him, “It’s just this.” Or is there still something that you’re dissatisfied about?

“So normal.” An impression that came from a rooster who was just asking for a beating.

“It feels pretty good, quite suitable for Chu to use.” Gasai’s impression was much more pertinent.

Lying on my palm was a small gun, commonly known as a derringer pistol kind of thing. It’s silvery blue, and on the gun’s handle is a dark blue totem pattern.

“If you wanted to think of one, don’t you think that a laser gun, cannon, machine gun, or a shotgun sort of thing would be way cooler!?”

Completely looking down at a derringer, the five-colored rooster head snorted through his nose. “This sort of little toy wouldn’t even be able to kill someone even if you threw it at the person. To think that you’re actually able to think of something like this.”

“The little toy that couldn’t even kill someone if you threw it, blasted off a certain purple robe’s head in one shot during the last match with Clear Wind Academy.” Senior yawned, and dragged over a cushion, arranged his position and directly laid down.

The five-colored rooster head immediately turned around to look at me.

“Everything was just a beautiful accident.” I laughed hollowly twice.

“The royal weapons’ power has always been so strong that they couldn’t be compared with general weapons. For it to have this kind of power is also normal.” Gasai continued to help me explain. “As you’re using it, Chu, you can look at the situation to adjust the power. The weapon will follow the owner’s way of use and mood during that time, and change.”

So to say, my mood at that time was to blast off someone else’s head?

I suddenly shuddered.

Turns out I’d also have such terrible thoughts, in the future I’ll have to pay more attention as to not harm others.

“If you can’t grasp the exact way to use it, just practice more and you’ll learn how to do it.” Probably seeing that I’m still a little uneasy, Gasai very kindly told me those.

Practice…

Shooting at aluminum cans and the like, I’ve seen this on TV before.

“Practice, we’ll do that right away, let’s go and practice!” The five-colored rooster head’s ability to take action was very strong; he directly grabbed my collar and dragged me outside.

I didn’t want to do it right away!

“If you guys want to go out, come back before two in the afternoon for the start of the competition!” Completely not stopping us, Gasai stood at the same spot as he waved at us.

Please, someone just come and stop him!

Unfortunately, even after I was dragged outside, had the door closed behind me, left the range of the players’ lounge, and then got dragged countless of meters away, my wish was still totally unfulfilled.

Just as I was being dragged out of the lounge’s entrance, a voice stopped the five-colored rooster head’s steps-

“Both of you!”

The small, nearly inaudible sound of someone running quickly came closer to us, “What a coincidence, we meet again, where are you guys going?”

I lifted my head to look, and sure enough it was Ran, who was very fond of coming and going without warning.

“To help him with special training.” The five-colored rooster head pointed at me, making the decision without my consent.

“Special training?” Doubtfully looking at me, Ran revealed a somewhat puzzled expression.

“Nn…Because it was my first time activating an illusionary weapon, and I’m still not used to it, so I wanted to go and practice.” Damn it, I really didn’t want to support the five-colored rooster head’s decision that didn’t have my consent, but I couldn’t think of anything else to say.

“That sounds very interesting.” Ran immediately showed a high degree of interest. “Can I come along with you guys and watch?”

“Sure.”

Disregarding my wishes, the five-colored rooster head added in another spectator.

***

We stopped at a place with a relatively high terrain.

This time, I could definitely recognize where we are.

“It’ll be more convenient to practice here.” The five-colored rooster head was standing beside me with his arms crossed, as he grinned and said.

I looked out at the endlessly wide open space, feeling a bit dumbfounded. This place was the one where Senior had once brought me to chase classrooms when I just entered the school, and we even surfed on top of them.

It might be because of the competition period that no classrooms were running around here; the entire open space looked a whole lot bigger. However, if I remember correctly, I heard that this open space seems to be connected to another world, where some things would…run out.

”This place is also very interesting.” Ran glanced around the open space for a moment, and made the above conclusion. “Ziray always chooses great locations.”

Chooses great locations?

Basically, I feel that he was just randomly choosing ang place.

“Yang~ we’ll practice over here.” Pointing at the open space, the five-colored rooster head looked at me.

”Aih?” Practice over here?

“You just need to make sure that all of your shots hits the things inside the big pool.” He said it so simply, but I totally couldn’t see anything in the huge open space at all.

I looked at the silver gun that Minas turned into, completely not knowing where I should start.

The five-colored rooster head took out a black crystal and then hurled it into the middle of the open space. It didn’t touch the ground at all; roughly thirty centimeters before it hit the ground, the black crystal seemed as if it sank into water as it suddenly disappeared. In just a few seconds, strange sounds could be heard from within the open space. All of a sudden, an enormous octopus leg emerged from the surface of the open space, and then disappeared just as quickly as it came.

…

What was that!?

Why would there be an octopus leg from a huge sea monster here!?

Wasn’t it a shark before?

Who changed it!?

“That was a bait to attract the things inside the pool, and then more and more things will gather here. Yang, you can relax and take your time to hit them.” As if to make the five-colored rooster head’s words come true, in less than thirty seconds, I saw more enormous octopus legs writhing around in midair.

To be honest, I’m really unable to relax and take my time to hit them.

Can this really be called “practice”?

Just as I was struggling with that idea, at the side, Ran patted my shoulder. “Yang Yang, try using your illusionary weapon to shoot me.” He pointed at himself, revealing a harmless smile.

“Shoot you?” Were you trying to say shoot the five-colored rooster head and just misspoke?

“Nn.” Ran nodded, completely crushing my thoughts, “Don’t worry, nothing will go wrong.” He moved back a distance, and patted his own chest.

Narrowing his eyes to look at him for a moment, the five-colored rooster head abruptly turned toward me. “Yang~ shoot him!”

“Aih?” Is that seriously okay!?

“Don’t worry, no one can die in our school. Even if you smashed him into pieces, he still wouldn’t die, so fire and blast off the foreign enemy’s head!”

When did it turn into the foreign enemy!?

I was a little scared as I looked at Ran.

“It’s alright, I also want to see your illusionary weapon.” He was still smiling very gently.

Honestly, even if you can’t die, but being hit would still hurt a lot, right?

It’d be better to be careful as to not directly hit him.

And so, I deliberately lowered the muzzle slightly, and then carefully pulled the trigger. As if it was responding to my thoughts, a water bubble suddenly appeared out of the muzzle. It slowly drifted forward with the kind of speed that a butterfly being blown by the wind would have, and then the second before it reached Ran’s shoulder, it popped.

Its death was confirmed.

“…”

“…”

“…” Fortunately it missed.

Just as I rejoiced and breathed a sigh of relief, someone suddenly grabbed my neck from behind. “A bubble!? Did you think that this was a water gun for little boys to play with soap bubbles!? When you fought against Clear Wind, you used bubbles to blow their heads off!?” The five-colored rooster head showed a kind of man-eating expression, “I’ve finally seen you for who you are! You actually intended to use bubbles to cover up everything, ungrateful people like you will be struck by lightning sooner or later!”

The first part of those accusations were quite alarming, but what was with the last part of that sentence…

“That…it wasn’t a bubble when I fought with Clear Wind…” I hurriedly broke away from his murderous grasp, and ran several steps away before refuting, “It was a very normal bullet.” It should be, at that time, I didn’t realize what I had shot out either; by the time I did, that first expert already had his head burst open.

The five-colored rooster head seemed like he wanted to say something when a clapping sound interrupted both of us. “Sure enough, it’s just as I’d thought, Yang Yang, you can freely adjust the things that the weapon fires, as well as its usage.”

After he said that, it seemed like it really was the case. Just now I didn’t want to hurt him, and the bullet really was unable to hurt him.

”However your aim isn’t accurate enough.” Ran held up his index finger like some kind of teacher giving an explanation. “Just now I saw that you tilted your gun downwards, and so it should’ve hit the ground but you still hit my shoulder. It looks like your aim still needs practice.”

Oddly enough, just now I did want to hit the ground, but Minas’ impact was rather strong, and my hand bounced up a little.

“If you shoot out another bubble, then you might as well just help the gardening team water the flowers by spraying them with your gun.” The five-colored rooster head pulled me forward by my collar. “Go on, practice shooting the octopuses.”

I looked at the increasing amount of octopus legs before me and felt a little dizzy all of a sudden.

If I am able to freely adjust the bullets…

Slightly tilting the gun, I squinted my eyes as I looked at the nearest octopus leg. This isn’t a person, there’s nothing to be afraid of, just pretend that it’s a huge sea monster in a movie!

A silvery blue line drew past me like a meteor, and in the next second, the sea monster’s octopus leg broke into two with a thunderous noise.

Success!

***

“Just succeeding once doesn’t count as a success, you’ll have to hit every one of the legs.”

Behind me, the five-colored rooster head said that to me.

I watched the octopus legs appearing and disappearing in the entire place, and suddenly wanted to close my eyes and pretend that I had a heat stroke.

Those legs are appearing all over the place, I simply don’t see how I could aim at them!

Looking at the huge open space, I was a little at a loss.

“Didn’t you do the opening of the eye?”

A familiar voice appeared behind me and I quickly turned around. Senior, who had been watching behind me for who knew how long, coldly glared at me. “You’ve already done an opening of the eye and yet you’re still unable to see the things here!”

What things are here?

I only saw an endlessly wide open space.

“The powers after just doing an opening of the eye wouldn’t be that strong, we should lend him a hand.” Senior Gasai, who had similarly arrived at some unknown time, smiled faintly and then nodded in greeting to Ran by the side.

“So troublesome!” Senior coldly snorted, and then walked over here from a distance away, giving a glance at Ran. “Ran of Seven Hill Academy, we’ll have to trouble you this time.” He stretched out a hand.

“Not at all, this is something I should do.” Ran also smiled as he returned his handshake. The atmosphere around the two was so peaceful to the point where it became a little weird. It felt like they should’ve known each other  before this. “Besides, someone had also asked me to help with this matter, so it’s considered as something that I should do.”

“Hmph.”

I couldn’t quite understand the exchange that the two of them had. It felt like they were talking about something else.

“Gasai, come over here!” Going past us, Senior and Gasai walked forward and then stepped into the open space area, strangely floating about thirty centimeters above it. After they probably moved a certain distance away, both of them stopped. Then they stood five steps away from one another, face to face as they stretched out their hands.

A huge square light array, with even smaller squares around its corners, immediately appeared beneath the two, and began to slowly rotate.

“This is a high-level spell.” Obviously very interested, Ran opened his eyes wide and was very focused as he watched each and every move that was made within the open space.

“Completely couldn’t tell at all.” The five-colored rooster head said what was in my mind.

“This is a high-level manifesting spell. It’s able to break high-level spells and barriers, temporarily letting certain things to manifest.” Ran causally gave us a short explanation. “It’s like how Ziray and I can see the things here, but we’re unable to let Yang Yang or others to see them too, the manifesting spell would be able to do that.”

I probably understood.

Anyway, it’s just to let me see the things inside the barrier.

But why did Senior say that I’d be able to see after doing an opening of the eye?

A couple of seconds after the spell had appeared, the open space started to change. A white bubble floated up, then two, and three. The open space was filled with a black water that was probably at a height of thirty centimeters. Floating beneath the water was an unknown shadow.

There really is water here?

Water that couldn’t be seen?

The unknown shadow gradually grew bigger, and the second the water surged up, a sea monster’s octopus leg suddenly sprang out of the water. The black drops of water that were splashed up instantly turned into white bubbles and floated into the sky.

These are the things that I couldn’t see?

“Enough!”

Walking out of the array, Senior and Gasai left the surface of the black water one after another, as the light array continued to slowly rotated. “Chu, you better practice hard, if you think of nonsense again, I’ll first blast your head off!” Red eyes fiercely glared at me, and then a teleportation array appeared beneath his feet. He took less than half a second to vanish.

Really came and left in such a hurry.

Just what did he come here to do?

“Don’t mind him, he was afraid that there would be obstacles in your practice, so he came to help you manifest the pool. This manifestation will last at least until two in the afternoon. Chu, you’ll have to practice hard.” Senior Gasai patted my shoulder as usual, and kindly said. Then he followed Senior’s steps and left the place.

There was a moment where I suddenly felt that I should practice hard as to not hold everyone back again.

I looked at the silver gun in my hand, and made the decision to definitely become like that kind of super sharpshooter who always hits his targets on TV!

”Great! Since everyone is so enthusiastic, I’ll help out too!” I don’t know why Ran suddenly became so excited, and then he held out his hands that were completely filled with some unknown silver powders. “Let’s first summon two hundred sea monsters to help out!”

…

…

How many did you say?

“Two hundred would only be a thousand and six hundred legs, it won’t be enough!”

The five-colored rooster head issued a protest that doomed me to my death.

“Then coupled with two hundred sharks.”

In that instant, the entire black water in the open space was brimming with octopus legs and shark mouths, and the whole place became extremely cramped.

“…That’s enough you two!”