NOVEL NEXT The Weapon Range
Bang pushed a button under the counter and I saw a metal shutter slide down to cover the front door, almost similar to Mara’s Gene Clinic.
I’m guessing that’s a standard for shops around here or something?
He then pressed another button which caused one of the walls to slide open, allowing us to step inside and join him at the back of the shop.
As he had said, there was a range at the back and another armoured door with the words ‘Staff Only’ painted on it. I’m guessing that’s the armoury or where he stores his stock of weapons.
Although I said range, it wasn’t those kinds of shooting ranges where you have a paper target on a clip that is sent out to a certain distance that you start shooting at. Instead, I found myself looking at some kind of holographic arena that took up about three quarters of the room.
He brought the gun to one of the counters where some kind of lamp hung over it and did a scan of the gun.
Another screen popped up to show the model and specs of the shotgun, right before an identically shaped gun popped up from the counter beside the original.
Bang then picked up the copy and went up to the edge of the arena, waving his hand to prompt a screen to appear in front of him.
He then tapped a few buttons which made a rifle wielding thug appear in the centre of the arena and he lifted up the gun to shoot at the target.
A few more appeared after that and he pointed at each one in turn and shot them all in quick succession.
He nodded to himself before turning to me, “There ya go. It’s properly calibrated to feel like the real one. You can change the settings on the screen there including the range settings. If you want to have the full feeling of the reloading and everything, the setting is there too.”
Amber seemed unnaturally excited by this with how she had her fists clenched in front of her chest and bouncing up and down slightly while grinning at me.
She looked pretty cute doing that. That is of course, ignoring the sight of her boobs bouncing up and down from that action too.
… I wanna stuff my face in there…
Ahem.
I took the shotgun from Bang and occupied the space he had just vacated, using the time to look at the screen that listed all the options that I could change.
Looking at the settings, I realised that this was really just a combat simulation and the shotgun I was using was also a simulated gun that I could configure using the screen.
Since I want to use this in a real combat setting, I decided to try and make this as close to a real scenario as I could.
That meant manual reloading, simulated recoil of the gun, responsive enemies that will shoot back and even find cover, different types of enemies and also a set combat scenario.
After I confirmed the settings, I found a holographic vest being projected on me and I realised there were three pockets on the vest which stored each of the three types of ammo that Bang had shown me earlier.
The screen was then directing me to step into the arena so I did so.
“Oh wow, she chose the live combat option huh,” Bang commented.
Amber did not say anything but a quick peek at her showed that she seemed to be a little worried for some reason.
I mean, isn’t this all just holograms anyway? It would literally just be the same as me playing the game in my original World I would say.
Ah, wait, she doesn’t know that of course.
In fact, I guess the only time she saw me fight was with Voidshade which barely counts and the fight outside Mara’s clinic which she held most of the enemies’ attention so she doesn’t know how good or bad I am in a firefight.
With that in mind, I took my position at the other end of the arena and the area around me shifted to what looked like the interior of an apartment’s corridor.
I looked to my side and I realised that they actually simulated the entire length of the corridor and ended it at a wall at where the end of the arena was. Although if I were to squint hard enough, I could just make out the silhouettes of Bang and Amber behind the holographic wall.
Right in front of me was a door so I guess opening the door would signal the start of the simulation.
I looked down at the gun in my hands and flipped it to its side to start loading the buckshot rounds into the chamber, filling it up to twelve rounds before it reached max capacity.
The shotgun was a semi-automatic so it had a decent rate of fire as well so I think I should be able to do this solo.
Checking that I had the safety of the gun off, I then braced my foot and kicked open the door.
Oh~ I actually felt the weight of the door being pushed, that’s awesome.
I heard a shout and I quickly brought my attention back to the scene in front of me.
I instantly counted at least three thugs, all of them standing a short distance behind the door.
At this distance, I didn’t even need to aim and simply shot twice from the hip, the resulting spray of pellets enough to pepper the three guys with holes.
I then rushed into the room, leaping over the three downed thugs to enter the living room where six other thugs were in the midst of either running for cover or standing up from their couches.
I sucked in a breath and held it as I aimed my shotgun and pulled the trigger six times, gunning down all six of them even before they could finish their actions.
Two guys jumped out from the corridor on my left and aimed their guns at me, only for their heads to be blown off as I swivelled around to fire a single round at them.
I breathed out and advanced on the corridor, figuring that that would be where more enemies would be.
Sure enough another thug tried to jump out of the corridor as I neared it but my gun was already pointed in that direction anyway so I just needed to pull my trigger and the guy went down.
I peeked around the corner and a spray of bullets immediately came towards me, narrowly missing me when I ducked back behind the wall in time.
I waited until I heard the sound of the magazine being emptied before I shifted out and fired a round down the corridor, blasting the thug that had been waiting there back to crash into the wall.
Another thug then ran out of the doorway and pointed a pistol at me.
I pulled my trigger first but his shield materialised and deflected my pellets away.
I had to hide behind the wall again as several bullets flew past where I had been moments ago.
I then loaded in a green round right before loading in a red one, peeking out from behind the cover to squeeze the trigger twice.
The shield shredding round did its job magnificently by shattering it upon impact before the buckshot finished off the guy.
Right then, I heard a mechanical clank and what appears to be some kind of robotic dog leapt out from the same doorway, growling at me menacingly with its rows of sharp, serrated teeth on display.
I immediately loaded in one of the armour piercing slug rounds and fired at it just as it started to run towards me.
The slug shredded through its torso with enough force to fling it back but it was still not dead yet as it tried to get back up.
I loaded in one more and fired at its head, this time killing it with that shot.
Seeing no other enemies coming out from that doorway, I advanced towards it while loading in three more buckshots into the chamber.
As I peeked around the corner, I came face to face with some guy that had blades for arms slashing towards me.
My body moved instinctively and I went to kick the guy, using him as a springboard to leap backwards and flipping around midair to shoot him with my shotgun while I was still in the air.
I then landed on the ground, seeing that he was saved by a shield that prevented my first shot from killing him.
I didn’t have time to switch to my shield shredding rounds since he was already rushing up to me so I fired off another shot.
He reacted with surprising dexterity as he leapt onto the ceiling to avoid it before leaping towards me with his blades outstretched.
I once again felt my body move on instinct and I slid underneath him, loading in a shield shredding shell while firing the normal buckshot at his back.
His shield tanked that as well but shattered when I fired the next round, leaving him open.
He tried to slash at me but I managed to use my gun to block his blade by smashing the butt against his wrist, which gave me the perfect opportunity to slide in an armour piercing slug into the chamber before unloading it in his chest.
The result was a gaping hole in his chest and he quickly fell on to the ground, defeated, which also signalled the end of the simulation.
Oh nice, so how did I do guys?