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Tsutsuji Spirit Ward is a forested area. Visibility is poor, and it’s common to be ambushed and lose your life before you know it. As for the reason, on the original Earth, you’d only need to worry about wolves running on land, but in this world, fast-moving hostile creatures weave between the trees. Humans are not accustomed to three-dimensional combat.

“They’re coming, they’re coming~. I can sense them closing in from above the trees with Presence Detection. And they’re fast!” (Touka)

Touka had spread her mana like ripples to detect enemies, then struck a pose with a joyful smile on her face, showing no fear, only anticipation for the upcoming battle.

To be honest, her reaction is so unexpected that it makes you worry whether she’ll be okay.

“You’ve got guts, young lady. Do you trust your own strength, or is it that spirit armor? It doesn’t look like something you’d find in a shop -definitely a one-of-a-kind piece.” (Lanpeach)

“It’s both! I can easily handle this area without spirit armor, and on top of that, I have the family heirloom spirit armor: Flying Arrow!” (Touka)

“Flying Arrow, huh? That’s some good stuff you’ve got there.” (Lanpeach)

Lanpeach frowns, recognizing the armor’s name from the game.

Flying Arrow is armor that houses an Artificial Wind Dragon Spirit, boosting speed significantly and nullifying long-range attacks. It deflects arrows and bullets, and mitigates long-range magic damage by 50%. It’s an excellent armor, and nullification skills are rare, so Lanpeach remembered it well.

Lanpeach had acquired it on his third playthrough, and he remembers it being a priceless treasure until mid-game. However, its basic performance was low, and it had paper defense, so it couldn’t withstand the late game. Though it was quite handy in gunfights.

“A family heirloom, huh? …I see, so you’re from the Tsurugi clan.” (Lanpeach)

“I just introduced myself a little while ago! Already forgot?” (Touka)

“Sorry, I was kind of zoning out back then.” (Lanpeach)

Lanpeach apologized casually to the pouting Touka, though he felt a bit complicated inside.

(The Tsurugi family’s quests are notoriously hard to trigger. I got Flying Arrow from one of their quests on my third playthrough… but it didn’t trigger in any other playthrough. The trigger conditions were different on every guide, so I couldn’t trust them…but it triggered in this world. What kind of quest was it that I got Flying Arrow as a reward…?) (Lanpeach)

Flying Arrow is honestly a spirit armor Lanpeach really wanted. So he tried to recall the quest from the game, but…

“They’re getting even closer!” (Touka)

“Guess I’ll think about that later. For now, let’s take down these approaching monsters.” (Lanpeach)

[Soldier, it’s time for battle!] (Libra)

Libra struck a pose and Touka raised an alert as she pointed at the enemy.

Lanpeach grins slightly and takes aim with his DG5 Assault Rifle through the iron sight, targeting the monsters rushing between the trees.

[Forest Wolf: Level 2]

“Just a weakling.” (Lanpeach)

More than 20 wolves are coming at them, tongues out, moving through the difficult terrain of the forest as if it were flat ground. 

Their bodies are nearly 3 meters long, and their gray fur is elastic and far tougher than poorly made leather armor. A novice explorer would likely freeze in fear, unable to fight or flee, and be bitten to death by their sharp fangs.

But for Lanpeach, it’s a familiar sight. Even in the face of the rapidly approaching ferocious Forest Wolves, they were nothing more than targets for him.

[Acquire Gunmanship Level 4. Specialty will be Fan Shot.] (Lanpeach)

[Acquired. Gunmanship Level 4 and Supernatural Powers Level 4 achieved, so you have obtained the Fusion Skill: Rain Snipe.]

[Fan Shot: Fires in a fan-shaped spread for a wide-area attack.]

[Rain Snipe: Converts bullets into countless energy arrows that pierce the enemy with homing capabilities. However, the bullets must be energy-based.]

With Gunmanship reaching Level 4, Lanpeach now had 1,000 EXP remaining. But with the acquisition of these skills, he could now use guns with maximum efficiency.

“Well then, let’s start mowing them down! Don’t hate me, blame society!” (Lanpeach)

[It’s time, Soldier!] (Libra)

Lanpeach pulls the trigger, matching Libra’s twirl and laugh.

[Gunmanship]

[Gun Mastery]

[Quick Draw]

[Fan Shot]

The bullets fly towards the enemies like a rainstorm in full-auto mode.

The stacked passive skills enhance the bullets’ effects, allowing them to weave through the trees, accurately hitting the heads of the running Forest Wolves.

Forest Wolves run at high speeds in a forest where visibility is blocked by trees and underbrush, and natural barriers like rocks stand in the way. 

Normally, it would be difficult to hit them, but it seemed as though the wolves themselves were running into the bullets as Lanpeach’s predictive shots shattered their heads.

“Kyan!”

“Gyau!”

“Ga!”

The Forest Wolves fall dead while raising cries, their blood splattering as their bodies pile up, without even getting close enough to bite.

Lanpeach emotionlessly watches, reloading his magazine with lightning speed before turning his gun towards the sky and firing without hesitation.

Lanpeach sends a few bullets into the air, having already switched to semi-auto mode. After a moment, a snake as thick as a man’s arm falls, half its head blown off.

Lanpeach simply glanced at the snake’s corpse, not paying it much mind, before turning his attention back to the remaining enemies and continuing his shooting.

The number of monster corpses increases with every gunshot that rings out.

Forest Wolves that were confident in their speed, Kamikiris with their dagger-like fangs, and Blade Birds with razor wings flying through the air were the firsts to be shot down. Tree Leaf Snakes camouflaged as leaves and Large Spiders with venomous fangs also fall without being able to approach Lanpeach.

(T-This is amazing! This old man is incredible. I thought he was a martial arts master, but I’ve never seen anyone handle a gun like this!) (Touka)

Touka, who had been eager to fight the approaching monsters, was now watching Lanpeach in awe.

(With a gunman this skilled, it doesn’t matter if monsters gather around. He can just kill them all!) (Touka)

“Oh, did you want to fight? My bad, I ended up taking them all down.” (Lanpeach)

Lanpeach stops pulling the trigger and bows his head after mistaking Touka’s gaze. Whenever a girl he doesn’t know watches him, his strategy is to play it humble.

“No, don’t worry about it. It’s better to have the upper hand in a fight. No need to do anything dangerous.” (Touka)

“Thanks. In that case, I’ll finish them all off, so just wait a bit.” (Lanpeach)

[Fan Shot]

Lanpeach continues to wipe out the enemies by firing in a fan-shaped spread.

[Uhya, amazing, Soldier. But is Fan Shot supposed to have enough power to be able to defeat monsters this easily?] (Libra)

[No, it usually doesn’t pack this much punch. This is the result of a carefully built skill set.] (Lanpeach)

The usual Fan Shot spreads the bullets, reducing its power due to being a wide-area attack. However, Lanpeach had taken actions to counteract that.

Powder of Element has a unique system. You can choose from countless available abilities as your skills level up. Most first-time players would select powerful special moves as they leveled up.

Skills that deal double damage to enemies, explode on impact, or cause stun or knockback -flashy and effective abilities that quickly dispatch enemies.

But by the second playthrough, it becomes clear that this approach is a mistake. Quick Draw, which increases attack speed, boosts critical hit rates, and Gun Mastery which increases attack power by 50%, are far more effective than double-damage special moves.

Passive skills may seem dull and, while special moves give you an advantage in the early game, making it easy to defeat enemies, but in the mid-game, the accumulated passive skills make battles much easier.

In the end, the special moves acquired early on become obsolete and unused, while players regret missing out on low-level passive skills.

This is something Lanpeach learned from experience. He had once watched a gameplay video titled [Aiming to Be the Strongest Gunner], only to regret it after seeing how different their combat strength was.

The effect of those skills was now gradually manifesting, and the power of Fan Shot was significantly increased.

Lanpeach easily wiped out the monsters this time, unlike his previous encounter in the Dream Island Spirit Ward.

The Spirit Ward would remain quiet for a while as a result of this slaughter, but only Lanpeach and Touka would know the reason.

◇◇

“Oh wow, old man, do we have to extract the spirit stones from all these monsters?” (Touka)

Touka asked, her smile a bit strained as she looked at the piles of corpses scattered around.

“And yeah, you’re strong and all, but it wasn’t very fun! I was expecting something more exciting to happen!” (Touka)

The girl was quick to make unreasonable demands.

The strength in Lanpeach’s shoulder went away as he looked at Touka with weary eyes.

“What do you mean by ‘something exciting’? Isn’t it good enough that I turned out to be a hidden master or something?” (Lanpeach)

“I’ve seen that kind of thing at school recently, and that person was all smug, puffing out their chest. Honestly, it was a bit underwhelming. I was hoping for something more unusual, something exciting and out of the ordinary.” (Touka)

“That’s a tall order… Well, how about I show you a magic trick? Throw one of those wolf corpses at me.” (Lanpeach)

Lanpeach scratched his head as he spoke, but Touka didn’t hesitate and immediately threw one. A bit more hesitation would have been nice.

“Toya!” (Touka)

“Hoi.” (Lanpeach)

[Dismantle]

The moment Lanpeach touched the thrown Forest Wolf’s corpse, it turned into particles of light, transforming into fur and a spirit stone.

“Oooh!!! That was amazing, old man! What’s the trick? How does it work?” (Touka)

Touka’s eyes sparkled with excitement as she held the fur in her hands, more impressed by this trick than the earlier battle.

“You’ll have to figure that out on your own. A magician never reveals their secre—” (Lanpeach)

“Take this, and this, and this!” (Touka)

Touka dashed around, eyes shining, eagerly picking up and throwing more corpses at him. She loved magic tricks.

“I’m definitely going to figure it out, so show me more!” (Touka)

Seeing corpses flying through the air, Lanpeach realized that they might actually manage to gather all the loot without taking much time, and he couldn’t help but chuckle.

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