Sniper Rifle (3)

"Cool… Now go away. *sniff*... I need to concentrate,"

"Sure,"

I chuckled a bit before finishing my four laps.

On the other hand, Aisa took until the end of class to complete her laps, and once she crossed the finish line, the teacher handed her some water.

"Don't worry; you don't have any more classes today, so you can rest as much as you want," He says in such a kind tone that Aisa fell asleep on the spot.

"Hey, did you hear the news?" I ask Mr. G as he gets the other girl from the sniper group to bring her back to her dorm.

"Yeah, you put that motherfucker in her place, didn't you?"

"Oh, are you allowed to use such language against a large family such as hers?" I say, and we both chuckled a bit.

"Well… I didn't like her in the least. Not that I hate the big families, but some kids just piss me off... and she was one of them,"

"Yeah, she was pretty annoying,"

"Anyway, you suck with the sniper, don't you?" The teacher smirks.

"When were we on such a friendly note that you could insult me?"

"Well… No, let me show you something because I noticed most of you, besides Aisa, forgot one important thing. Actually, it was my bad that I didn't elaborate far enough yesterday," He says before clicking a button on his jacket, causing the white rack of weapons to appear.

So that's how he did it… I thought it was a skill or something.

He then jogged over to the rack and clicked another button on his jacket, which caused the target to come back up.

As soon as he grabbed my exact same sniper rifle, he jogged back over to me before getting into a proned position.

"Whenever you're here, take a deep breath in and hold it. Just hold it. This will allow you to minimize the amount of sway in your gun," He says before taking in a sharp, deep breath.

And suddenly, it seemed as if the world around us had gone quiet.

Not even the sounds of kids running through the halls outside the classroom could be heard.

Pew… Ting.

His shot just barely managed to hit the top of the target, and as soon as he heard the sound of the bullet hitting, he let out his held breath.

"That was a skill, by the way. Only legendary snipers will be able to achieve that level of calmness where everything around them seems still without an actual skill,"

"I see… Can I try?"

"Sure," Mr. G says before standing up and throwing me the sniper.

"Dude, you didn't even switch on the safety,"

Mr. G snickered a bit before opening his mouth.

"I just said that as part of my contract. When you're getting shot at from afar, do you think you'll have time to switch on the safety?"

"Ohhh, I see," I muttered before flipping the sniper to where the barrel lined up with the target.

I then took a prone position before sucking in a large amount of air.

"Wait, wait, wait. Too much. Just do what I did. A sharp but hefty breath of air otherwise, you'll get lightheaded in an instant,"

I nodded my head but didn't start yet as I needed to regather my concentration.

Empty my mind… Empty my mind… Empty my mind…

My eyelids began to relax as the stiffness in my shoulders suddenly disappeared, and I knew I was ready.

Sssssss

I took in a sharp yet deep breath, and I noticed everything was quiet.

Click

The sound of the sniper trigger rung through the air before a quiet,

Pew… Ting

Followed through.

"Oh, very nice. Your concentration was decent at best, and you still need to focus on taking a sharper breath… but from what I can see… It seems you might have some talent," Mr. G says as I glance up from the scope.

My bullet was pretty close to the center, but it was nowhere near as good as Aisa's.

"That was a pretty surreal experience… Did I do the thing? Because it felt like I did the thing?" I ask before standing up.

The world around me was so calm in my eyes that I couldn't help but wonder if I had achieved what the teacher had told me.

"No, you did not do the thing,"

But, it's not like I was hoping to achieve that state.

"That was to be expected, but how come my concentration was average at best? I think that might've been the most concentrated I've ever been,"

In both this and my previous life.

"I mean, it was good for the average sniper, but a legendary sniper will be literally drooling, and they won't even notice. A fly will land on their eye, and they won't even notice. A gun could be fired right next to them, and they won't even flinch or look back,"

"Why do you keep using a 'legendary sniper'? I don't think I'm ever going to get to that level. I mean, I'd rather be a legendary spearsman than that,"

"It's completely up to you," Mr. G shrugs as if he was trying to provoke me.

"I'm not the type of guy to be inspired by a few words,"

"Well, I do hope you continue to train with your sniper. You've got potential, so don't waste it," He says before walking over to the bleachers where he had a stack of papers.

"Mhm… Anyway, I'm going to eat dinner. I'm so hungry I could probably eat an entire chocolate cake,"

"Oh, they're out of the chocolate cake, by the way,"

"Seriously?"

"Yep,"

Well… shit.

After setting the sniper back on the rack, I quickly made my way out of the room and towards the cafeteria as I was starving.

I could feel my stomach practically roar in protest.

"Yes, can I get that… and that… and that… thank you very much," I say to the lunch lady as she stacks the delicious food on my plate.

This was the good thing about such a fancy school… The food is delicious.

The boarding school I went to for half my life served terrible food, but as it was free, I wasn't going to complain.

I then sat down next to Findir, who was talking with a familiar face.

"Oh, what's up," Cy says as I sit down on the chair parallel to the window.

"You guys are friends?" I asked before immediately digging into my food.

"Slow down. The food isn't leaving anywhere," Findir says before Cy opens his mouth.

"Yeah, we just met actually,"

"O- Coo-" I say before stuffing my face with even more food.

We all had a casual conversation which was nice after all the stress that had been built up over the past seven or so years.

But, it was all about to get reignited… as tonight, I had to finish this damned quest.

I leaned back in my chair, feeling a headache already coming.

At least I have some skills that will help me against the monsters… but the boss… I'm still going to struggle significantly against it... So I might as well take advantage of that.