Episode 3: License Exam (6)

Through the hallways of the Hunter's Association, two men could be seen making their way towards the waiting room in silence. The usual talkative Landon was quiet, not saying a word throughout the journey back. Meanwhile, Jace remained the same, though with traces of disbelief still present.

"Hah... So there's that..." Muttering out in a low voice, Jace silently turned his head over towards Landon, who had a disappointed look on his face. "I never expected things to turn out this way..."

After discreetly shooting out a bullet over towards Jordon to give way for Landon to strike back, Jace never would've imagined that even after all that, the situation didn't change for the better. Before the young man could help Landon any further, the first match came to an end just like that—with the two of them both losing the battle.

"...there was only so much I could do in that situation..." He scratched his head, moving his attention over towards the pistol in his hand. "Other than my fighting prowess... My entire kit was useless in that match."

If it was purely up to skill, Jace could confidently say that he had a fighting chance against his two opponents. However, if he were to outperform the Marksman in terms of skill, he would be drawing more attention than he could handle. His entire plan of lying low would crumble into pieces.

"Sigh... Stupid kit..." he frowned. "At least give me a buff skill or something?"

Continuing down the halls whilst deep in thought, the silence in the air grew, as not a single word was spoken out. It was only when the two men finally reached the entrance of the waiting room did the silence finally broke.

"...hey." Stopping in his place, Landon quietly called out to Jace from behind. "That shot you did back there... That was a pretty good one."

"...?" With the sudden call out from Landon, Jace stopped in his tracks, turning around to face the blonde-haired man. "...what?"

The silent atmosphere had led to this point, and he was already bracing himself for the complaints that Landon would give. But, who would've thought that what he said was completely out of expectations?

"You know, that shot you sent to the striker?" Landon explained. "If not for that... I probably wouldn't have been able to fight back. So... Thanks for that."

"That's..." Jace was caught off guard at the reasoning, leaving him with a dumbfounded expression. "You're not angry that I didn't do much the entire match?"

Although Jace couldn't support Landon anyway as healing and shields were completely unnecessary during the previous match—there was no excuse for Jace to have stayed as a bystander.

After all, there were countless other things that he could've done, like filling in the gaps left by Landon or distracting Tammy to prevent her from putting up her shields. However, far from those options, he had only helped Landon once throughout the entire battle.

As such, Jace was left confused by his words.

"Well, with you having been so vague about what you'll do, I might as well have expected nothing!" Landon rolled his eyes. "But, you did help me when I was nearly at my wit's end—and I'll say, that was a deciding factor of the match. If I was competent enough, we could've won this, no problem! But..." He bit his lips, his expression darkening. "What I did wasn't enough. I couldn't deal with that guy after all that you've done."

"...that..." Listening in on the blonde-haired man's words, Jace shook his head helplessly. "To be honest, I could've done much more than what I did during that match, like preventing that sentinel from putting up her shields. But, that didn't happen, and your shots got absorbed by it as a result..." He ruffled the back of his head. "It looked like you were betting fully on that one shot, but... Things turned out differently..."

"Sigh. If not for my accuracy..." Landon scratched his head, sighing loudly. "It's bad. I'll admit that. Well... It's probably more than bad. I don't have a single accuracy skill..."

"Huh...?" Jace blinked, looking at Landon in confusion. "...you're a Marksman, right? You should have at least one accuracy-increasing skill, no?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm a Marksman!" Landon coughed. "But... Well, far from the usual skills that people like Misha or Ace would have, mine is... Based on me missing my shots."

"...what?" Not being able to understand what Landon just said, Jace stood there in a daze.

"If you don't believe me, have a look then!" Landon swiped his finger, soon showing a status screen in front of Jace.

[ Goldworks, Sheriff's Whiff ]

A whiff more deadlier than a bullseye.

Stats: None.

Special Trait: Each time you miss a shot, your damage for the next one increases by 4% (Up to a maximum of 200%). The next time your shots would land on a target, the accumulated multipliers will reset.

Branch (Initial):

-[ Cannot be seen ].

...

[ Fire Volley (B) ] [ Active Ability ] [ 50 MP ]

A single bullet is split into small fractures that would aimlessly spread out in a single range. The accuracy of the shot depends on the range of the target, with each 5m distance decreasing the accuracy by 10%. When activating this skill, the overall damage of a single fragment is 70% less than a single bullet.

...

[ Rapid Spray (C) ] [ Active Ability ] [ 40 MP ]

Rapidly shoot out five or more bullets in succession with no delay between each shot. For each bullet following the first one, the accuracy of the attack is lowered by 10% (Up to a maximum of 50%).

*Each bullet after the 5th shot will cost an additional 10 MP during the duration of this skill.

...

At a single glance at Landon's skills, Jace could now understand where the "whiff" in the title came from. His entire kit was based on him missing every single shot, to build up a "stack" that would allow him to deal a burst of damage in a single attack.

"...this is...?" Moving his eyes away from the status window shown by Landon, he turned to look at the blonde-haired man with a stunned expression. "You're just casually showing me your skills?"

The specifics of a single skill or description meant everything to a hunter. When it came to revealing information, the vast majority of awakeners in the hunter's community would withhold the word-for-word descriptions of most of their abilities. After all, what reason would they have to reveal the specifics of their skills but to expose themselves to vulnerabilities?

"What? I can't show my skills to my teammate?" Landon scoffed. "Heck, even if we weren't a team, there's no harm in showing my skills to a friend! So relax, don't worry about it!"

"...huh?" The young man stared blankly at Landon.

"But anyways! As you can see, my skills are purely about me missing my shots!" he helplessly shook his head. "No accuracy whatsoever! Do you even know the feeling of reaching max stacks, but still not being able to hit your target? Blergh! If not for those stupid shields, I could've dealt with that swordsman just fine!"

"...I guess I can see what you were trying to do," Jace thought to himself. "But your accuracy..."

"Yeah. My accuracy is just straight-up bad!" he sighed. "But whatever! Enough of that. Let's move on to you! What was that shot?! Are you sure you're not a Marksman? Is that why you're not performing the role of a Synergist?!"

"I told you, I'm a Synergist..." Jace helplessly uttered. "I'm not a Marksman."

Although he was now a Synergist, that didn't mean that Jace would forget how to use a gun. With years of experience as a Marksman, shooting out a bullet was basically second nature to him. It didn't matter if he had lost all his skills—In the end, what mattered was his ability to shoot accurately.

"Seriously! I still refuse to believe that you're a Synergist!" Landon crossed his arms, pouting. "You didn't use a single skill back there! All I saw was that single shot you made!"

"Well, in my defence, I did say that I could only heal or do shields," Jace coughed. "You were doing just fine dodging all the attacks, so, what was the point in healing or providing you shields when they were both unneeded?"

"I mean, that may be true... But, you seriously don't have any other skills?" Landon glared at Jace, sceptical of his words.

"If it makes you happy, I can nullify a debuff," he shrugged.

"Hah?!" Landon cried out in disbelief. "Aren't you just useless then?!"

"Well, I guess you can say that. My skills are indeed useless." Jace nodded his head in agreement. He was still not hopeful of the future prospects of his class. "You're a Marksman, so even if I were to heal you or do shields, you'd still be dodging around and avoiding as much damage as possible. So I'll just be wasting MP..."

"Bah! Whatever!" he rolled his eyes. "At this point, you're more of a Marksman than anything else! Your shots were far more accurate than mine would ever be!"

"...I only shot once, though?" Jace raised his brow, doubtful of Landon's evaluation.

"That's even better, no? A 100% hit rate!" Landon stated. "You shot out that bullet like it was nothing! There's no way you don't have good accuracy after that stunt you pulled!"

"How are you so sure of my skills?" Not buying his words at all, Jace countered. "It could've been a lucky shot."

Contrary to Jace's argument, it wasn't a lucky shot. Jace had meticulously aimed at the striker's leg so that it would look as if Jordon had slipped. Who would've thought that Landon would take notice of such a detail? Jace was already careful of the public's eyes, so he did it as discreetly as he could.

"How I'm sure? Do I really need to be?" Landon frowned. "You're at least more useful with that gun than just waiting around to heal me! Don't tell me you're gonna do it again?"

"I mean..."

"You mean what? You would?!" Landon glared at the young man. "Not if I have anything to say about that! So, here's the plan. We go on an all-out assault! Who needs support anyway? Just go with two damage dealers!"

"Wait, but that's not how it works—" As Jace attempted to refute Landon, he was immediately interrupted.

"No buts!" he hushed Jace. "Although you DID help me by saving me in that clutch there, you didn't do much at all in the grand scheme of things! So, you're not gonna be useless this time!"

"Hey... Wait... There's still a problem with that..."

"It cannot be as big of a problem as my accuracy!" Landon countered.

"No, wait..."

"We're going into tactics discussion, right, this, instant!" Landon firmly said, grabbing onto Jace's arm.

"L-Landon...!" Being forcefully dragged away by Landon, Jace cried out.

"RIGHT. THIS. INSTANT!" Without another word from Landon, the blonde-haired man dragged Jace far from the waiting room, heading out into the unknown.