Chapter 14: Weapon Selection [1]
"The battlefield will rely on your weapons," Professor Riya stated, meeting the eyes of her class.
She declared, "And our Academy boasts experts who will train you to wield your weapons with utmost efficiency."
After one final assessing glance, she turned and strolled across the metallic floor.
Our class was currently in the A-21 training facility, a vast, metallic chamber.
At its core, a circular dais stood, its floor composed of crystal tiles.
The metallic flooring encircling it was adorned with canvases depicting angelic and demonic warfare.
Professor Riya halted in front of a wall. As she waited, the wall parted, revealing an arsenal of weapons.
It was a huge room—or more accurately a hidden chamber, a cavity. It was decorated with different kinds of weapons.
-"Remarkable! It looks quite advanced," a student remarked.
-"Are these real high-grade lethal weapons?"
-"Elites? Ha! I bet you've only laid eyes on mock armaments thus far," someone scoffed.
-"Miss Riya is thick!"
The chatters of students filled the air.
Riya's hands clapped loudly, capturing the attention of everyone.
"Listen carefully," she began,"While warriors have the ability to use almost any weapon, mastering them is a different story."
"And, mages, while proficient in using spells, lack the ability to use weapons properly. Therefore, those of you with different roles should choose your weapons with careful consideration."
???????! "Now, everyone, choose your weapons."
The students rushed towards the armory.
The armory was stocked with an eclectic mix of weapons. From swords, spears, axes, knives, to katanas, halberds, clubs, maces, flails, glaives, greatswords, rapiers, baseball bats, battleaxes, pikes, javelins, longswords, quarterstaffs, sickles, daggers, and machetes.
There were even guns on display, despite their uselessness in this world. But, due to the technology limitations, there were not many modern weapons.
It is said that, 'necessity is mother of all inventions'. This rings true in this world.
It's almost impossible to penetrate skins of monsters using bullets.
But whereas guns failed, mana imbued weapons and special graded weapons forged by master blacksmiths were able to easily slay tens of monsters in one swoop.
The people of this world never tried developing scientific weapons like missiles and lasers.
Despite the concept of such weapons being present, no one pursued their creation. Well... not the general public atleast. There were some hidden organizations...but that's a topic for later discussion.
Most of the students picked weapons like swords, and only a few picked long ranged weapons like bows and javelines.
A crowd of students could be seen swarming around each main characters just like how honeybees swarm around honey.
With a curious glance I looked around. At the centre of attraction I saw Aeravat picking a double edged straight sword which was slightly cruved towards the end.
Naturally a lot followed his lead and picked swords
On the other hand, Takhasi picked up a glaive.
A group of boys were also there, molesting Aurora and Emily with their eyes.
Aurora opted for a rapier, while Emily grabbed a bow without caring about the gazes.
Despite this, a smile was visible on her lips. She did like attention.
To my left stood Kai Lee, white complexion, straight-jacket hair. In his arms, he held two metal gauntlets.
Kai Lee was the only fighter class in the first year, and no one else in the class had chosen a gauntlet-like weapon.
This made Kai Lee an exception.
Strolling towards the armory, I felt like an extra with grand aspirations. "Now, what should I pick?" I asked to the thin air. But the bastard air did not reply.
I breifly overlooked the weapons before me, when I heard a sudden commotion.
I turned my head to see what was going on.
—"Are you sure about choosing nunchucks?!" barked a voice in the crowd.
Confidently, came the reply, "Yeah, I think it'll be just fine."
—"Come on, who are you kidding? You don't even know how to use them, and they are for only conditioning the hands! They are not actual weapons."
-"I said it will be fine!"
"Nun chucks, huh?"
Unlike swords that can be used for melee combat only or bows that are only functional at long range, nun chucks offer versatility in both.
When wielded as a melee weapon, nun chucks can deal rapid damage.
With the right technique, users can even trap incoming enemy weapons.
But the real fun comes when you add magic into the equation.
By infusing the ends of the nun chucks with mana, they can become a element projectile launchers.
And the two guys are making a fuss over it.
The commotion caught everyone's attention since it was rare to see someone use nun chucks.
-"Who's the nerd with the nun chucks?" someone asked from the back of the room.
-"Looks like Buster Cherry" another replied.
Turning his back to the class, Buster's friend whispered, "Hey man, you know you don't have an art for the nun chucks, right?"
"Anjskenbe," Buster clumsily replied before clarifying, "Hajsye-ye, I don't have an art for it. So what?"
His friend rolled his eyes. "Why don't you just pick up a shield and spear like the rest of us?"
But Buster Cherry was not discouraged. "I'm gonna be the first to create a nun chuck art."
The crowd erupted in laughter at the absurdity of the statement, but Buster stood firm in his beliefs.
There was a good reason for this fuss.
While sword and bow techniques can be learned through various Art, there are no known Arts for the nun chucks.
Professor Riya arrived at the scene with a tablet in her hand. "What's going on here?" she asked, peering at the two.
"A nun chuck? Can you even use it?" she asked Buster Cherry.
"N-no, ma'am," he stammered.
Professor Riya raised an eyebrow.
After consulting her tablet, she said sternly, "You're student rank 380, Buster Cherry."
"Yes, mama-I meant yes, ma'am!"
"You were previously a sword user. Why did you suddenly decide to change your weapon?" Riya scowled.
"Yes, ma'am?"
"And do you even have an art for nun chucks? Or do you expect the academy to provide you with one?"
"Yes, ma'am!" Buster foolishly replied, before quickly correcting himself, "I mean no, ma'am."
Professor Riya was not amused. "What yes ma'am, no ma'am? Answer properly!"
The rest of the class exploded in another fit of laughter, not because they found it funny, but because of how absurd it was.
"Bust...er...Cherry huh?" I recorded to myself, "I don't...yea I don't think I remember anyone with that description. Could be a potential Npc."
Professor Riya shifted her gaze to the other, "Rank 400, Harry Butts?"
I refocused my gaze from the commotion to my own thing.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢