Ascended Firearm Training

Michael walked towards the large counter full of weapons. Veronica stood next to him as they looked at each firearm placed there.

He made a face that could be described as disappointment and disgust.

"I have been telling them for months!... Fix these stupid guns!... Do they ever listen to me?... Of course not!" He didn't even touch any of them and just walked towards the shooting range that had the targets the furthest away.

"What are you planning to shoot with?" Asked Veronica while hurriedly walking after him.

As an answer he just reached inside his vest and pulled out a large eight-shot revolver.

"Where have you been hiding that?" She asked with bewilderment, her eyes never leaving the beautiful gun.

It was colored pure black with a few silver carvings on it. She gingerly reached out her shaking hand, moving her fingers along the carved lines.

She felt a strange sensation touching the gun and in a second she noticed where the disturbance had originated from. The Dancer's Rose was gently vibrating every time she touched the weapon.

Her eyes widened as the realization hit her...

"Is this a real Ethereal Weapon?" She blurted out before she could control herself.

Next to her Michael looked a bit surprised, but also satisfied.

"Very good Miss Navarro! She is indeed a real ascended weapon! Her name is Retribution!" He spoke with a proud smile, while gently moving his hand on the lines.

"Does it have some special power?" She asked with an amazed and curious expression.

"It's nothing that special. Each shot carries more power than a regular revolver and it gives a passive effect to its user, increasing their reflexes."

Both stayed silent for a moment, then eventually Michael turned towards Veronica and asked, "How much do you know about ascended firearms and the different kinds of bullets?"

Veronica shrugged. "Not much. I know about a few type of bullets ascended use and that most have weapons capable of delivering swift death with ease. Why?"

"I just thought that since you are here only because of that two week course. I might as well educate you for a bit, so you would learn something useful while you are here." He spoke with a small confident smile.

Veronica raised an eyebrow, crossed her arms and leaned against the counter.

"Why do you want to educate me? I thought freelancers are supposed to be despised by the churches." Michael just rolled his eyes, then leaned against the counter next to her.

He was about a head taller than her, with a healthy amount of muscles on his frame. It didn't quite bulge out, but it was definitely noticeable, even under his suit.

"Don't compare the Church of Time to the other ones. Haven't you heard that most of the Unbroken worked as kind of freelancers? They travel around the world, helping where ever they are needed. That's why the Church of Time is the only orthodox religion that has a foothold in the Outlands!"

He spoke proudly for understandable reasons, but Veronica still couldn't quite comprehend what he was saying.

"So... What does that mean?... Most of you travel and help where ever you are?... What if you don't find any place that needs helping. Do you just wander?" She spoke skeptically, but Michael only chuckled at her question.

"Technically yes, but they will always find some place that requires their help. Just because they travel around the world doesn't mean they are lost... Our Lady, The Goddess of Secrets guides them!"

While he spoke, he tapped his chest at three different point while making a circular motion, drawing out the Clock of Time.

Veronica nodded with understanding, not revealing her real thoughts on the matter, but unlike what she expected her acting didn't go unnoticed.

"You are quite good at hiding your real thoughts from showing on your face, but unlike most paths, mine is great at reading body language and facial expressions... My suggestion is that you work on that a bit more, before you try to fool anyone from the Mediator path!" He spoke with a smile, then turned away and reached for the firearm.

Veronica looked at him thoughtfully, paying extra attention of what he was saying.

Previously she believed that her acting was pretty good and it could hide her real emotions and thoughts, but only now did she realize some mistakes in her thinking process. She never accounted for other ascended and if they could see through her falsehood.

Stepping close to the counter where Michael was unloading his gun, she asked with deep curiosity, "What paths are the ones I have to pay attention the most? Only the Mediator?"

Michael glanced at her for a moment, then put down the empty revolver and stared straight into her eyes. Their faces were only a dozen centimeters away, which became painfully clear for Veronica. She moved away a bit more with the hint of a blush on her face.

He just made a cocky smirk which further annoyed Veronica.

"This attentiveness only exists within three paths. Its the weakest in the Dancer, but they can manipulate their own movements to a greater degree. The Mediator can see everything much more clearly, but they can't change themselves much... The third... Those ones you have to look out for the most!"

A small shiver went down Michael's spine just by thinking about that path... They were really creepy...

"The Soundless is the weakest, but also the scariest path that exists. They are easy to miss, but they never miss anything. In a fight they are mostly useless, at least as far as I know, but they are really good at staying in the shadows... I know that because I'm part of the Unbroken I should accept every path, but those guys are really frightening."

Seeing her scared expression Michael grinned a bit, then pointed at the gun.

"Now that you are officially creeped out, let's get started! So, you said that you don't know much about ascended bullets and weapons... I don't have many bullets on me today, or at least ones that you can see the effect of..."

He began rummaging through his pockets until he managed to produce about a dozen different types of bullets. All of them had different colored casings and some had strange markings, indicating their purpose.

"Okay... Today's lesson, what are each of these bullets' purpose!... Let's play a game shall we? I will tell you each one's purpose and name, then you have to name them all, not missing even one! If you fail we'll do this again until you succeed... Shall we?"

Before Veronica could've refused the stupid 'game', Michael began telling each of their names, fast.

She managed to remember about half of them. The one with the red casing was easy to remember, it was the one that explodes. Two others that weren't hard to forget were the one with the fire symbol and the one with the swirling line. The first was incendiary, the second caused nausea.

The other two she managed to catch was the black casing, which was the Death Bullet, and the other, which was white. It supposedly increased the bullets velocity.

After she told him all of this, he repeated their names with the same speed.

This time she managed to remember four more. One with white pentagram, another with a black one. The white caused more damage to spirits and evil beings, the black was the opposite, it caused more damage to holy and good beings.

There was another with a dark gray casing, which caused a smoke screen to appear.

The fourth one had a blood-red droplet carved on it. This bullet when its lodged into someone, it gave them hemorrhage, which meant they would stop bleeding until the bullet was pulled out.

They repeated the previous exercise. It should've been very exhausting, but it was actually fun to learn this way. It had nothing to do with the subject at all... She definitely wasn't enjoying this just because it was about weapons!

The last four were all had different colored casings. One that was green, the second which was orange, another that was gray and the last which was purple.

Green made plants grew out of the bullet wound causing excruciating pain.

Orange made the gunshot extremely loud. If shot in closed quarters it would probably deafen everybody.

Purple caused the person to get stunned for a few seconds, making them very disoriented.

The gray one was really interesting. It caused your already existing wounds to transfer onto the person you shot. It's nickname was Equalizer.

When she could finally name each bullet, Michael gave her a slow, mocking applause, but she subverted his expectations with a small, elegant bow. They both laughed a bit, then turned back towards the weapon.

"So... Can I actually shoot?" Asked Veronica while batting her eyelashes, making her look innocent and cute. He just rolled his eyes and put a few regular bullets plus one white bullet inside the chamber.

"You won't going to be shooting with most of these since the effects would only show if you hit something living. Also I don't want to explode or ignite anything, and I certainly don't want to go deaf, which leaves only the Speed Bullet."

He handed the loaded weapon to Veronica who laughed to herself a bit. While raising the weapon she said, "I could try shooting at you."

Behind her Michael seemed to choke on his own saliva and began choking, but Veronica didn't hear any of it.

She pulled back the hammer, aligned the shot and pulled the trigger all within one second. This time she was surprised to feel a bit of recoil and because of it her shot didn't exactly hit the place she aimed for.

Instead of going straight through the head it clipped the target's ear.

Behind her Michael chuckled a bit because of her display, which annoyed her quite a bit.

After a quick glance back, she turned forward and aligned her next shot.