Episode 3: License Exam (7)

Within a small room in the Hunter's Association, a blonde-haired man could be spotted standing behind a barricade, with a pistol in hand pointing straight at a training dummy a few meters away.

"..."

There, with eyes focused on his target, Landon pressed the trigger of his gun, shooting out a bullet the next moment.

Bang!

As the bullet was fired out from the pistol, it slightly swayed to the side, completely missing the training dummy by a few centimetres.

"...argh!" At the sight, Landon screamed. "I can't hit the target at all!"

"Uh... Maybe you could try shooting at a closer range?" To the side of the man, Jace could be seen with folded arms, helpless. "I don't think shooting at this range would help much..."

"What? You'd think that would help with practising my accuracy?" Landon glared at Jace. "If I want to get better, I'll have to shoot at this distance! Otherwise, what's the point of being called a Marksman?"

"Right..." Jace slowly nodded his head, moving his attention over towards the countless holes behind the training dummy. "...and I'm here because?"

Ever since Jace was dragged away by Landon to the target practice training room in the Hunter's Association, the young man had witnessed an incredible amount of misses from Landon. Never in his life had he seen someone with horrid accuracy.

"Well, isn't it obvious? We're here to make a battle plan!" he stated. "While we do that, I'll be practising my shots. Unlike your accurate aim, I have a horrible one."

"...huh? Accurate?" Jace raised his brow, pointing his finger over towards the shooting stall beside Landon's, where a few holes could be seen behind the dummy. "Seriously, I missed all my shots earlier. You're telling me I have an accurate aim?"

"Blergh! Those misses were on purpose!" he rolled his eyes.

"...on purpose? I'm being serious here. Just look at this." Turning his head over towards the training dummy in the distance, Jace shot out a mana-infused bullet towards it. Right at that moment, the bullet that was supposed to hit its target, grazed past it, hitting the wall instead. "I'm telling you, it was just a lucky shot back then."

"Ugh, you're just messing with me here!" Landon scoffed. "You're not even trying to shoot properly!"

"But I am?" he sighed. "The result of shooting properly was as so. I missed my mark."

"Bah! Whatever, you won't be putting up that act for long!" he clicked his tongue. "Our plan still stands. You and I will go on an all-out assault in the next match. You will not be slacking off!"

"Landon... You know I'm a Synergist, right?" Jace blinked.

"Yeah and?"

"And you know this is a License Exam, right?" he continued.

"Uhuh?"

"...what I'm trying to say here, is that, if I were to suddenly perform the role of a Marksman, that would be weird," Jace reasoned. "I do not want to cause any misunderstandings about my role. So, suddenly going on the offence like that is..."

"Huh?! You're worried about that?!" As Jace was about to continue with his sentence, he was immediately interrupted by Landon. "So what if you suddenly act like a Marksman? Just do it! It's not as if Synergists can't be aggressive. You're still supporting by contributing to the battle! That's way better than having to wait around for something to do."

"I guess that would make sense for a handful of Synergists," Jace thought to himself. "But... You know my skills are all extremely niche. So, I would basically have nothing to show that I am a Synergist during the match."

There was also another problem with Landon's suggestion. If Jace were to start playing aggressively, he would end up drawing attention just by being able to shoot much more accurately than the Marksman himself.

"You would have nothing to show at all if you don't go on the offence!" he grumbled. "Do you want me to deliberately take a few fatal hits so you can heal and shield me? If that's what it'll take to get you to go on the offence, fine by me!"

"Wait... Who in their right mind would want to take a fatal hit just so the support would have something to do???" Jace questioned. "Sigh. Look, just do as how you've always been doing. I'll do my best to support you from the side, by distracting the other support or something. If worst comes to worst, you overwhelm them with bullets while I fill in the gaps for you."

"Seriously, why are you so against the idea of just going all out from the start?" he frowned. "We could be doing an amazing performance if so! Even if people don't see you as a Synergist, they could still tell that you're a competent hunter, so does role even matter then???"

"...I just want to perform the role of a Synergist, that's all," Jace stated.

"Ugh... As long as you're not useless!" he frowned.

"Don't worry. I won't be distracted this time."

...

After a series of back-and-forth discussions between Landon and Jace, the 2nd match of the exam soon loomed upon them. Unlike the previous match where it was a Striker and Sentinel, they were now against a Synergist and Sentinel duo.

At the sight of the matchup, the two men were left dumbstruck. After all, as far as they were concerned, the pairings mainly consisted of a support and damage dealer. As such, to have two supports in the same team was questionable.

However, that didn't matter, as in the end, Jace and Landon won their match. Though, much like the first match, Landon was left to do most of the legwork whilst Jace was there as a bystander.

...

"...ugh! This is freaking boring!" After the conclusion of the 2nd batch of matches, a blonde-haired girl with a beanie on her head could be seen crying out loudly in boredom within a VIP room. "Why are all the matches just so boring?! Man! I need more fun matches to watch!"

"Tch. It's boring for you because you're looking at it from the perspective of 'fun'." Hearing the complaints from Angela, Howl rolled his eyes, scoffing. "Why are you even here if you're not here to recruit anyone? A sad disgrace of a guild leader if you asked me."

"Hah?! Well, might I remind you that it was thanks to me and my money that you even got the chance to recruit new hunters in the first place!" Angela scowled. "The least I could get is a thank you!"

"Oh just shut it," he rolled his eyes. "Go play a game on your phone or something. Let us do our jobs in peace here!"

"Hmm... Although I wouldn't describe the matches as 'boring', I do have to say that there aren't as many promising hunters in this exam as I would have liked." Sitting on the couch next to Angela, Selene shook her head helplessly. "There are only a few among the forty examinees today."

"No one really stands out." From behind the blue-haired woman, the black-haired man who had been leaning on the wall spoke out. "Or well, they're not up to Luxur's standards, at least."

"Haha. I must say, that is quite the good news," Selene smiled. "I wouldn't mind being the only one to take in the few hunters that I found eye-catching."

"Whatever! I just want something funny to watch!" Angela grumbled. "That Marksman guy who kept missing all of his shots was a funny sight to see! Who would've thought that there'd be such a guy with such horrible accuracy?!" she laughed. "I swear, if Ace was here to see it, he wouldn't have been able to stand the sight!"

"Hah. Bold of you to assume that Ace would even attend something like this," Howl scoffed. "Even if he wasn't retired, there's no way in hell he would ever come to an event like this. He's not even in a guild!"

"Hey, maybe Soren or Bryce would've convinced him, I don't know!" Angela shrugged. "That bastard decided to up and go awol on all of us! Just why did he even retire?!"

"Why does that even matter to you? He's never even been in a dungeon with you," he rolled his eyes. "At the very least, he had the blessing of never having to put up with you. God, I wished I was him."

"That is beside the point! He could be making bank right now and he chose to retire? What a waste!" Angela humphed. "But whatever. Back to where I was saying, I want more fun matches!! I had high hopes for that Marksman guy, but why did he get matched up with such a boring team like a healer and a tank? Who wants to watch someone soaking up all the damage while a healer heals them???"

"That match pissed me off," Howl clicked his tongue. "Never mind how that duo was showing a standard performance of their respective roles, I'm more annoyed by that Synergist on the Marksman team! He has the damn gall to just stand there and do nothing? Why the hell is he even taking the exam then?!"

"Well, it's fine by me! Makes the entire match more fun!" Angela chuckled. "It's always funny to see the team with the number disadvantage winning in the end."

"Hmm... The Synergist guy on the Marksman team?" Selene muttered out whilst in deep thought. "Well, I wouldn't say that he was just standing there the entire time. He has his moments, which shows that he has what it takes to take the exam."

"What moments? All I see is him just standing there and doing nothing!" he ridiculed. "No one in their right mind would want to take him in after such a horrible performance! I doubt you'd invite him over to PR?"

"Well, I won't comment on that," Selene chuckled. "He just has something going for him in crucial moments."

"Seriously, Selene. You're not saying that because you're trying to distract us from the better people, right?" Howl raised his brow in doubt. "You're not fooling me here."

"Haha. Well, it's up to you to believe me or not," she smiled. "The 3rd round of matches is starting soon. So, let's focus on what's important here."

...

By the entrance of the training arena, two men could be seen slowly making their way towards the stage. Unlike before, Ladon was no longer worried. Rather, he was now in a good mood.

"...alright! The 3rd match is starting!" Landon raised his fist up into the air. "We better win this!"

"We won the last match. Is that not enough?" Jace helplessly glanced at the excited man.

"What? Are you kidding me?" he frowned. "We literally won in the most boring way possible! That duo was just there to soak up damage and nothing else!"

"...at least it was good target practice?" Jace blinked.

"Hah, good target practice?!" he cried out. "With all the resistance he had, it was a pain to even get a dent on him! And, what was that about supporting me? You didn't even do anything!"

"...who says? I did my due by preventing the Synergist from doing anything too game-changing to the match," he shrugged. "I don't think I need to help you in a 1v1 fight where the only struggle you have was dealing damage..."

"Bah, whatever!" he humphed. "This is the 3rd and final match. So we better win this with a bang!"

"...sigh. As long as we show that we can fight, that's all that matters, no?" Turning his attention over to the crowd, Jace took notice that, compared to the crowd from earlier in the 1st match, it had died down. "We're just here to get a hunter's license..."

"Show that you can fight? Are you even looking at yourself right now?" Landon raised his brow in confusion. "At this rate, I don't even think you'd get the license with how you've been performing!"

Reaching the middle of the stage whilst conversing with one another, the two men were greeted by a Synergist and a Striker. Their final two opponents of the day.

"...I'm fine." Jace nodded his head. "But, if you want some reassurance, then here: I'll do my best."

"...tch, well you better!"

With their weapons in hand, the sound of a bell rang out into the area—indicating that the final match had begun.