"Should I grab another one to read?" Lloyd offered, completely oblivious.
"Hm, I want to play outside!" Nora called out.
"I guess it's been a while since we all went out together." Lloyd put the book down.
"I know a good place near–"
Knock Knock
The door banging interrupted his sentence. Who could it be?
Lloyd got up and opened it while Silvia played with the little munchkin.
"Uncle Yang? What are you doing here?"
"The portal opens tomorrow. We're planning on training together as a group. Do you want to come with us?" The older man asked.
Looking behind him, Lloyd noticed Nora staring with those big, beady eyes and with a look of pure anticipation. He weighed the options in his head. The extra training would be pretty useful and could possible save his life. Sacrificing one day over the future hundreds he could spend with Nora didn't make any sense.
"Nora!" He called out. "I won't be able to take you out today!"
A few seconds of silence passed by before Nora answered.
"...okay." She spoke in a small, resigned voice.
Lloyd's heart panged. He felt like the world's worst brother. He'd make it up to her the moment he got back. He promised himself that as he grabbed his jacket and followed Uncle Shen out the door.
…
Uncle Shen took Lloyd through the familiar path into the forest, but deeper than he usually went for hunting. There, the trees opened into a wide clearing, presumably cleared in advance just for the volunteers. A line of steel, human shaped dummies had been set up stretching roughly 90 feet from one end of the treeline to the other, each positioned at varying distances. There, Lloyd met his teammates.
Priest Han was rather youthful for a priest, appearing in his early thirties while being in his late forties. He had golden blonde hair and a pair of gentle amber eyes, but was relatively tall being only a few inches shorter from Lloyd. He stood with his hands folded loosely in front of him, watching the scenery quietly. He looked utterly harmless From Lloyd's view.
Lucas Doyle was a short, scrawny man. He was in his mid twenties, similar to Lloyd, but there builds couldn't be different. While Lloyd was tall and relatively muscular, Lucas appeared as if he could be blown away by a gust of wind. His light brown eyes kept jittering, not even being able to maintain eye contact with Lloyd.
Lastly, there was the Zoink Brothers. A pair of twins both in their mid thirties. Unliked the last two, they were intimidating. Both staggered a height above 5'9 and their frames were bulky with muscle despite their length. Marcus had a fierce scowl on his face, his crimson eyes glaring at Lloyd for no apparent reason. Jonah kept his expression neutral, leaning against a tree with his arms crossed, watching everything and saying nothing.
Lloyd inwardly sighed. This batch of volunteers weren't the best, but maybe they were different in combat?
Uncle Shen clapped his hands once.
Uncle Shen clapped his hands once.
"Alright, introductions over. We've got one day. Let's not waste it standing around looking at each other." He jerked his head toward the dummies. On a table nearby lay practice weapons for them to choose from. Lloyd hadn't brought his dad's rifle to preserve bullets and instead chose from the pile alongside a few throwing daggers. The others followed after him. Uncle Shen grabbed a remote and turned it on. Instantly, the once still steel dummies lurched to life, sliding along a track at varying speeds, overlapping and crossing paths.
"Woah, where did the village get these from?" Lloyd asked in awe.
Uncle Shen shrugged. "Due to the amount of casualties throughout the years, the villagers convinced the elders to buy proper training equipment and they bought these dummies online. This was before you came along."
Online struck a cord in Lloyd. He needed the wifi password! Perhaps if he came back victorious, he could bargain for internet access or get Uncle Shen to get it for him.
"Ahem, I'll test it out then with the others." He got in line with his teammates, staying at the back. The scrawny guy was up first, his arms shaking as he held the gun.
I'm surprised he managed to lift it up. The dummies were moving quickly, overlapping each other and passing within seconds. Uncle Shen pointed at a dummy from the far left.
"Aim at the heart"
Lucas took a deep breath then his avoidant eyes sharpened, locking dead on to the dummy. He bent his knees and shot.
BANG
The shotshell blasted through the dummy's chest. Although it wasn't a direct hit, it was a near miss.
"Damn it." Lucas mumbled, jaw tight, gripping the shotgun harder.
Marcus laughed loudly and patted Lucas's back.
"Good shot brother! Let me show you how it's done." The tall man stepped forward, bent his knees and shot at the new dummy Uncle Shen pointed at.
BANG
He hit it. Just nowhere near where he was supposed to. Lloyd pressed his lips together very hard.
"T-the shotgun wasn't angled properly. Again." Marcus fired at the same dummy without waiting for Uncle Shen's signal and…missed again.
This time, everybody burst out laughing. The vein on Marcus's forehead was visible, face turning red as he shouted at them to stop. Even Jonah's lips twitched, breaking his nonchalance. Uncle Shen tried to calm everyone down, but the man didn't listen. Marcus, apparently deciding the shotgun itself was the problem, threw it at the ground. It snapped clean in half.
Lloyd stopped laughing. The forest turned so quiet he could even hear the leaves rustling.
…He just broke a shotgun by hand.
Although his accuracy wasn't the best, it seemed his strength sure was. Luckily, Jonah stepped forward wordlessly, placed both hands on his twin's shoulders, and pushed the big man firmly to the back of the line. Marcus went, still fuming, but he went. Unlike Marcus, Jonah was a sharpshooter and accurately hit his shots. However, his main attack was daggers. Each throw was precise, but lacked strength so it could only bounce off the steel or occasionally pierce a few inches deep.
After him was Priest Han, but the man wasn't violent. He calmly raised the gun and shot. Even when missing, he kept that same, unbothered smile on his face. He wasn't clumsy, he just didn't seem to care. Whatever the priest's actual ability was, it clearly wasn't shooting.
Whatever, next was Lloyd. He raised the shotgun to eye level, bent his knees, and tracked the dummy Uncle Shen indicated. It was moving fast, crossing paths with two others. He followed it, let his breathing settle, and fired.
BANG
Dead center. The dummy's heart was shot.
Though, it was just beginner's luck. Although he never missed, his shots were always nearing but never exact. His eyes could follow, but his body couldn't. He was leaning heavily on whatever precision and dexterity points he'd accumulated, and those weren't high enough to fully compensate for the lack of formal training.
"Great shot!" Uncle Shen congratulated him. Considering that Lloyd was an amateur, he did great compared to the experienced people around him!
Marcus locked eyes onto him. Lloyd was afraid of him at first, but the older man quickly revealed himself as a meathead, so he had lost respect.
"Beginner's luck." The man scoffed.
Lloyd rolled his eyes.
"If it's beginner's luck, then I propose a shooting battle right here, right now. I'll need experience." Lloyd suggested. Marcus faltered, his eyes wandering.
"No need to waste time on that." He moved away from Lloyd.
Coward.
They trained until night fell. By the time Lloyd got home, showered, and fell into bed, his arms were heavy and his eyes were burning.
Tomorrow's the big day
He felt nervous, heart racing, palms sweating. The portal had taken his father. It had taken so many lives and tomorrow he was walking into it with a rust-streaked shotgun and a handful of daggers and stats that weren't nearly high enough.
Somewhere in his heart though, he felt excited. A strange, anticipation that made his blood boil and palms twitch. Regardless of how he felt, his eyes shut easily and sleep overtook him.