Chapter 57: 4th Dimension

    The scenario we were given was rather straight forward.

    Two unkillable Authority 5’s were thrown at us, both of them modeled after the gorilla that attacked us during our patrol. They were big, fast, and strong.

    And no matter what we did to them, they wouldn’t fall. Not only that, but they were supported by some other monkeys that, while able to be killed, were constantly replaced when one died.

    So it was an endless battle that taught us not how to fight, but how to survive.

    Primarily, how to keep your team protected while under threat.

    The monkeys came after Umara and I who didn’t move as much as our knights. And since Vetsmon and Feiden were occupied with the gorillas, Tana was responsible for helping us and them.

    But there were so many monkeys that Vetsmon and Feiden couldn''t be protected from, which would distract them and open them up to devastating attacks from the gorillas. So Tana was forced to bounce between two sections of the battlefield, supporting her teammates where needed.

    When Feiden was attacked, he was forced to test his speed and retaliate while also keeping himself safe from the gorilla.

    As for Vetsmon, he simply had to endure a beating. The gorilla he faced was strong, even more than him. So he had to survive a two pronged assault while also making sure the gorilla didn’t go and attack his squad.

    I, on the other hand, needed to constantly avoid those damned monkeys while killing as many as I could. Getting hit was considered a failure on my part, so I needed to release as much firepower as I could while being pressured.

    And Umara needed to support her entire squad. Sending spells my way to ease my pressure, assisting Tana, or throwing some rebuffing spells at the gorillas Vetsmon and Feiden were fighting. She had to take the most valuable course of action at every moment which required keeping an eye on the entire battle.

    It stressed all of us, pushing us to our limits. However, compared to the others, I was rather relaxed.

    Well, I was dealing with the most enemies. My speed of thought was stressed as a dozen monkeys would attack me and my squad at any given time, making me dodge, run, and shoot without break. I actually had to rely on Tana and Umara’s support, and given what had happened not long ago, both of them were wholly aware of everything I did and encountered, not willing to let the slightest bit of harm befall me.

    In fact, I could feel the senses and gazes of my entire squad on me throughout the entire battle, like I was a child requiring babysitting.

    But, despite all the pressure, I wasn’t all that serious. That was because of my recent advancement.

    I underestimated just how much power I contained now. Empowered shots that only a week ago would drain my stamina to nothing could now be fired with ease and volume. My body also had much greater stamina and strength than before, allowing me to utilize my speed of thought and avoid enemies with never before seen agility. Even I was surprised by it all.

    My reactions were faster, my dexterity was more accurate giving me faster reload times, and I could run for much longer. At some point I was backpedaling while firing two Peacemakers.

    Not only that, but my senses were sharper, the most obvious one being my vision. With better eyes combined with all the other benefits, my ability to aim and hit moving targets jumped significantly. My accuracy was through the roof.

    Everything simply became easier. By the time I got used to all the changes, I was killing so fast that the monkeys couldn’t keep up. The Puppet Master had to spawn a lot more to keep up the pressure.

    My only regret, however, was how I hadn’t actually fully completed my advancement.

    The dimension for my fourth Authority had yet to be opened. Technically I could do it whenever I wanted so long as I had all my energy.

    But I had been so preoccupied with Umara that I had forgotten. I was making out instead of finding some new guns to commune with.

    The horny was getting in the way of productivity. I made a note to fix that tonight.

    ......

    “Since when did you advance?”

    “Since two days ago.”

    I responded after arriving back at the outpost where the Puppet Master was waiting.

    The rest of my squad was on the floor. The knights were fighting for every particle of air they could get while Umara looked like she had been drained of all her spirit.

    While I was also tired, I was definitely doing better than them.

    The Puppet Master grumbled.

    “You ruined my plans to kick your ass into shape. But whatever. It seems your advancement was rather significant. I’ve never seen you perform so well, and from a cursory glance, your Psyka capacity has increased by a magnitude. For an Authority 4, you’re exceptionally powerful. I’ve only seen Authority 6 Summoners who can match you in terms of sheer power.”

    “Thank you.”

    “Mm. Just don’t let it get to your head. Summoners are considered weak for a reason. You’re on par with the rest of your squad now, but your defenses still can’t compare. If I were you, I would be trying to find something that can help protect you a bit more. Go talk to Maxwell about that.”

    “I will.”

    I nodded seriously. My coat was great, but it couldn’t protect my head or hands. So long as I wore it right, which I hadn''t been before, I also shouldn’t have to worry about my torso or most of my legs being hurt.

    I needed to find something to keep my head safe. As for my hands, I didn’t think I actually needed to worry that much about them.

    The only reason I had lost a few fingers last time was because I was using my arms and hands to defend my head against the monkey. If I didn’t need to do that, they would be safer.

    Not only that, but Rayla’s gloves, which I still continued to wear, were shockingly tough. I only lost my fingers at the point the fingerless gloves no longer covered, which was just below the first knuckle.

    Other than that, the rest of my hands didn’t have a single injury. So the gloves did their job. As for the risk of my fingers not being covered...

    Sometimes, style was a bit more important than safety.

    And if I really needed to, maybe I could get the gloves modified to cover the entire finger. But I didn’t intend to change them. They were a personal gift and I would wear them as long as I could.

    So a helmet was most important. I would indeed need to ask Maxwell about that.

    “You always look happy when you get to use your guns.”

    “That’s because they’re totally awesome.”

    “More awesome than kissing?”

    “Yes.”

    “Ugh! No hesitation!”

    She exclaimed in playful anger, making us laugh as we ended the night with a bit more romance.

    ......

    ...

    The next day during hunting, I grouped up with my squad.

    And I spent four hours doing nothing but putting my weapons to the test.

    Beforehand, I requested the Puppet Master to send me some non-agressive beasts so that I could simply gauge the destructive capabilities of my weapons.

    The Puppet Master complied, sending all manner of beasts of varying levels that simply wandered around without attacking.

    Naturally, the first thing I tested was my grenade.

    Like bullets, grenades consumed a certain amount of Psyka upfront. It wasn’t like my weapons where I could commune with them and give them a steady stream of energy to maintain them.

    And grenades took a decent chunk of my Psyka to summon. Not only that, but they could contain a lot of Psyka while empowered, increasing their destructive capabilities to an unseen level.

    Upon testing with various beasts at Authority 4 and 5, I found that the grenade did fantastic single-target damage.

    A beast like the gorilla, against an empowered grenade, would be heavily wounded if it exploded in close proximity. Entire limbs could be blown off depending on where it landed, and the shrapnel would scramble its insides, causing excessive bleeding.

    However, against groups of beasts, the effect of the grenades was limited. Sure it could injure multiple if they were crowded around, but it simply wasn’t worth the energy it took to summon and empower it to fight groups of more than 5.

    Still, even the others were shocked by how effective the grenades were. Even Umara didn’t realize just how good it was until she witnessed it. Basically, anything less than Authority 5 would be blown to chunks. And it wasn’t like I had to shoot it either. I simply threw it and hid behind cover. It was easy.

    Well, that was every weapon of mine. Guns made killing easy, and as I continued to advance, I would get better weapons that made killing even easier. I could already imagine what was in store for me later.

    In fact, Umara seemed to be catching on as well. With each of my Authorities, my guns evolved. She seemed to be able to see that to some extent, even though she didn’t really know how they worked.

    After working with the grenades for a while, I went and summoned some of the other standard weapons.

    The most important guns I found were the Springfield rifle, the Trench Gun, and the Colt 1911 semi-automatic pistol.

    The Springfield 1903 was a bolt action rifle with a 5-round built-in magazine. Using loading clips, you could easily load five rounds into the magazine.

    The rifle was chambered in 30-06, which while lighter than the 45-70 Govt that I currently used with my Remington-Lee, was also more reliable at distances around 300 meters.

    The heavier 45-70 would slope downward significantly beyond 100 meters, whereas the 30-06 had a much flatter firing angle at the same distances. Not only that, but where the 45-70 would lose its velocity and deliver less force, the 30-06 would retain a significant amount of its initial force even up to 300 meters. So for distance targets, it was the better choice.

    Not that it was a slouch with close range targets. With the magazine, the Springfield could inherently shoot more rounds per minute than the Remington-Lee, which was perhaps the most important aspect I had to worry about.

    The only issue was the lack of a scope on the Springfield, but it still had iron sight which, within 200 meters, was technically sufficient. Not to mention that I was often shooting large beasts anyway, not humans, making long range shooting easy.

    Perhaps my favorite gun out of the lineup though was the Trench Gun.

    This shotgun was a tube fed pump action system, like normal shotguns. However, this shotgun had a notorious reputation due to its slam-fire receiver.

    This meant that, if I held down the trigger, I could fire the weapon by pumping the shotgun’s slide. This gave it the ability to fire off shells at an alarming speed, only limited by how fast I was and how many shells were in the tube.

    The weapon was so dreaded that historically, when Americans got their hands on this weapon during the trench warfare of WW1, Germans were so scared of its use that they formally bitched about it and attempted to outlaw its use.

    Naturally, their protests and threats were met with nothing but scorn and derision. The hypocrites who threatened to execute anyone found with the gun yet continued to use poison gas and flamethrowers lost their balls and could only cry about it.

    And so the Trench Gun became a staple of the American War Machine, a weapon so terrifyingly effective that all those during its era feared the very mention of it, almost as much as the man behind it.

    To say that I wasn’t excited to hold this sexy steel babe of a weapon would be nothing but bullshit. When it first appeared in my hands, I couldn’t help myself and ended up kissing it on the receiver. Twice.

    I tried to not notice Umara’s weird gaze as I took out the last weapon.

    The Colt 1911.

    Created by John Moses Browning, as many of the greatest weapons were, the 1911 pistol is one of the most iconic weapons ever made right next to the Colt revolvers of the wild west and some more modern rifles like the AR-15.

    Chambered in .45 ACP, this magazine-fed pistol was America’s standard issue sidearm for over 7 decades. And even after it was replaced by the posh Beretta M9, it remained so popular that it continued to be used across all fields into the 21st century.

    Upon equipping this weapon, despite Umara’s warning gaze, I still kissed it. The others also found it weird, but I couldn’t expect them to understand the significance of this legendary weapon. Otherwise, they would be kissing it too.

    Besides those primary weapons, I couldn’t find anything else noteworthy without first digging deeper into the dimension, which would take time.

    And so, I spent all day training with my new toys that only increased my ability to kill faster. I was sure that during the next trip we went on, I would be able to perform even better than previously.