Chapter 52

David had somewhat misjudged himself. His attribute panel displayed the following:

Name: David Kerr
Strength: 3.24 (1)
Agility: 2.0 (1)
Constitution: 3.24 (1)
Spirit: 3.4 (1)
Literature (3% proficiency), Mathematics (5% proficiency), General Knowledge (51% novice), Martial Arts (1% proficiency), Electronic Countermeasures (98% mastery), Warhammer Mastery (84% proficiency), Sniping (20% proficiency), Shield Mastery (50% proficiency), Battleaxe Mastery (70% proficiency), Longsword Mastery (80% mastery), Spear Mastery (99% mastery)

With all his first-level enhanced flesh, along with twice-daily practice of the Eighteen Martial Forms, his strength was only 0.01 points away from reaching the 3.25 mark—equal to 1,000 kilograms. His constitution was also improving in tandem, thanks to his proficiency in martial arts.

This, he supposed, was one of the benefits Garen had mentioned about mastering proficient-level martial arts before hitting the thousand-kilogram threshold—constitution continued to rise due to advanced practice.

David had discussed this with Myron, who told him his own constitution hadn't improved for a long time before meeting Garen. It was only after Garen instructed him in martial arts that both his strength and constitution began to increase, albeit very slowly and never as fast as strength.

David's agility had also increased by 0.1, now sitting at 2.0.

But since yesterday, both his strength and constitution had stalled at 3.24, with no further progress. Even diligent practice of the Eighteen Martial Forms at a proficient level hadn't yielded any further improvement.

If David were to take that bottle of Level 2 enhancement serum now, he estimated he could break through this bottleneck immediately and achieve the basic strength of an armored warrior—a thousand kilograms.

But David trusted that Garen wouldn't deceive him. Since Garen had advised him to use enhancement serums sparingly, he wouldn't take the Level 2 serum unless absolutely necessary.

It had only been a little over twenty days since David arrived in this world, yet he had already raised his strength to a level his former self could never have imagined.

He was supremely confident he could break through the thousand-kilogram barrier on his own.

Ten days of intense training had brought his combat skills in line with what the attribute panel showed, especially his warhammer mastery, which had improved further due to his practice of the Storm Warhammer technique.

This filled him with hope for his upcoming studies at Naan University, where he could learn even more advanced techniques.

"David, I'm outside your house!" A message arrived on David’s ID band; it was from Myron.

David was a bit surprised—had the military surveillance ended already? Why was Myron coming by at a time like this?

He opened the door and first saw Myron’s Gladstone Type Six car. Myron was just jumping down from it, and the military vehicle that had been parked by the roadside was now gone.

"David, come on, let's go to the shooting range together!" Myron called out without even entering the gate.

"Myron, has the military investigation team finished?" David asked curiously.

"An expert came by yesterday, stayed three hours, and then left. The conclusion was that the city defense system is fine, and they agreed with the City Defense Squad’s assessment!" Myron answered with a grin.

"It’s finally over!" David felt the last of his worries slip away.

"Get in the car! I’ve been bored to death these days!" Myron urged.

"Wait a second, let me grab something!" David didn’t get in right away. He ran back into the house, and soon came back out, the scabbard of his sword strapped to his back as he climbed into the car.

"Heavens, David, you’re bringing your longsword out with you? Careful, if Uncle Garen finds out, you’ll be in trouble!" Though Myron said this, his eyes were filled with envy.

"With my level of warhammer mastery, Uncle Garen won’t say a word. How’s your own practice going, Myron? Have you gotten the hang of it?" David asked with a smile.

"I’ve already mastered the basics!" Myron said proudly. But thinking of David, who had only just started and had already reached the entry level, his pride faltered.

In truth, he hadn’t mastered the basics early at all—just last night while practicing the Storm Warhammer technique, he had a sudden insight and finally reached the beginner stage.

If it weren’t for David as a benchmark, his progress would be considered genius. Of course, it was mostly due to Garen’s hands-on guidance that he improved so quickly.

The Gladstone Type Six car headed toward the southern part of the city. David remembered there was a public square there, a place where Perrin City held large outdoor events. They were clearly headed that way.

Sure enough, Myron stopped the car when they reached the public square. They didn’t have to worry about parking—the Gladstone Type Six would find a spot on its own.

"Myron, is there a shooting range here?" David glanced around. He didn’t see any building that looked like a shooting range.

"Heh, you don’t know about this! Come with me!" Myron was clearly familiar with the place. He led David into the square, stopping in front of a door beside the administration office that read “Underground Civil Defense.”

He scanned his ID band on the door, which then opened.

Before them was a reception hall, simply furnished with just a counter and a computer terminal—nothing else. It hardly looked like a shooting range.

"Minnie, is Jim around?" Myron greeted the attractive woman at the counter who was watching a video.

"Young Master Myron, Mr. Jim is at the shooting range. He said you can go straight in." Minnie stood up, smiling.

She pressed a spot on the desk, and a wall slid open, revealing a staircase descending below.

"Let’s go, David!" Myron nodded to Minnie and spoke to David.

David followed Myron down the staircase, which was a full five meters wide.

"This is the underground civil defense shelter. It’s usually empty and rarely used, so the owner, Jim, rented the underground space and runs a membership-only shooting range here. Mostly acquaintances use it," Myron explained.

"You can rent the civil defense shelter?" David didn’t know much about the law, but he was sure you weren’t supposed to occupy such facilities.

"Jim’s father is Lieutenant Eaton," Myron said quietly.

David understood at once. Though Lieutenant Eaton didn’t hold a high rank in the military, he was the top figure in Perrin City’s garrison, so both the city government and the military had to show him respect.

And after all, it wasn’t a big deal. If the shelter was ever needed for its original purpose, it could still be used.

The area below was brightly lit, with a five-meter-high ceiling and a vast, steel-floored and walled space, giving it a cold, austere feel.

Five or six people were already firing weapons at projected targets. The method was unusual—at least, David had never seen anything like it.

He guessed the bullets were special as well. When a bullet struck the projection’s arm, the limb turned red but still moved to dodge; only after another bullet hit the left leg and immobilized it did multiple shots to vital points cause the projection to vanish.

Though the projections couldn’t fight back, this sort of practice already offered a degree of combat realism.

"Jim!" Myron called out loudly.

One of the shooters waved, holstered his sidearm, and jogged over.

"Myron, you haven’t been around for a while—heard you were grounded!" Jim teased, then turned to David. "David, hello! You’ve got the worst luck, running into something like that!"

David was taken aback by Jim’s enthusiasm; truly a man from the military—very direct.

Jim wore a standard-issue uniform, a holstered sidearm of an unknown model at his waist. Other than lacking rank insignia, he looked no different from an enlisted soldier.

"Jim, cut the nonsense. Where’s the stuff I asked you to prepare?" Myron said impatiently.

"Myron, for your request, I made a special trip to the quartermaster and borrowed something really good!" Jim replied proudly.

"Come on, Jim, bring it out! Money’s no issue, as long as the equipment is right. We won’t take anything out—just want to try it here!" Myron said, rubbing his hands eagerly.

David was curious too—what kind of weapon needed Jim to go to such lengths?

Just on the nearby wall, David could see a whole assortment of weapons on display, with a uniformed soldier standing guard.