Metcalf and Isabeau walked quietly to the preparation area, a separate room above and behind the seating area of the shooting range.\u00a0 Often the challengers created quite a bit of noise while preparing for their matches.\u00a0 Armor would bump.\u00a0 Ammunition would fall.\u00a0 The challengers would talk.\u00a0 Behind the soundproof wall, they could do what they needed without disturbing the observers.<\/p>\n
Once inside preparation area, they could relax.\u00a0 Having been there many times, they knew exactly what to do.\u00a0 The first thing was to select the height of the towers they were to stand on.\u00a0 Taller towers were safer, of course, but made for harder targeting.\u00a0 Metcalf selected the tallest tower setting, Isabeau did the same.<\/p>\n
Then, they selected the weapons they would use for the challenge.\u00a0 It was common for a student to have two or more different sets of weapons.\u00a0 One weapon was never good enough for all situations.\u00a0 When long distance weapons were used, they needed to be effective for the situation.<\/p>\n
It was an easy choice for Metcalf.\u00a0 Her short bow, Blue, was her primary distance weapon.\u00a0 Its size was quite deceptive as the draw strength was unnaturally great.\u00a0 She needed to use her motion energy skills to pull the string far enough to fire.<\/p>\n
The Seeds, Metcalf’s collection of seed shaped throwing knives, were more for mid-range fighting.\u00a0 Rasz and Black were dead weight in this case.\u00a0 Keeping any of these weapons on her armor would only add unneeded weight.\u00a0 They were better kept in her gear bag.<\/p>\n
Isabeau’s choice in this matter was even easier than Metcalf’s.\u00a0 She had only one long range weapon.\u00a0 Her ash colored crossbow, matched her armor perfectly.\u00a0 Hummer looked like any other crossbow except there was an empty space under the loading area.\u00a0 The long hole was surrounded by a sliding contraption with two silver circles at the front.<\/p>\n
The next matter was to select the students they wanted the training-bots to imitate.\u00a0 The school kept track of each student’s fighting style and abilities.\u00a0 The only thing different about the bots was energy abilities.\u00a0 It was impossible for the bots to use them.\u00a0 Wanting this to be a short battle, both Metcalf and Isabeau chose the most aggressive students they knew.<\/p>\n
Preparations complete, they had a bit of time to wait while they stood in queue.\u00a0 Metcalf was very curious about how Hummer worked.\u00a0 Blue was quite basic, but Hummer seemed almost like old and new technology combined.\u00a0 “I thought crossbows were only good at short ranges.”<\/p>\n
Isabeau noticed Metcalf was interested in her weapon.\u00a0 Taking ideas from another student’s design was natural.\u00a0 Everyone in the training center wanted an edge, something to help them get to the next level.\u00a0 “Most are, but this one is special,” she said as she gestured to trade weapons with Metcalf while they waited.\u00a0 Metcalf agreed.\u00a0 “Hummer’s draw strength is incredibly strong.\u00a0 I need this machine to pull the string back.”\u00a0 She pointed at the sliding contraption Metcalf noticed earlier.<\/p>\n
“How did the Founders to approve this?”\u00a0 Metcalf asked.\u00a0 Hummer seemed too much like a gun.<\/p>\n
It was the Grand Master’s philosophy that Protectors should use their skills in some way in almost every aspect of combat.\u00a0 Guns and blasters required little to no skill, only steady hands.\u00a0 Even a slightly trained Commoner can master their use.\u00a0 Protectors were called in to save Commoners.\u00a0 Commoners didn’t need the kind of help they could give each other.<\/p>\n
“It was Forge Master Sef’s idea.\u00a0 He said it was alright if I powered it myself.”\u00a0 She held out her gloved hand.\u00a0 The glove was covered in rubber everywhere except the top of her index finger and thumb, the two points that would be in contact with the silver buttons on Hummer.\u00a0 Instead those fingers were tipped with silver.\u00a0 With a brief amount of focus, she caused quite a very large spark between them.\u00a0 “Something about a loophole in the rules,” she said smiling.\u00a0 The spark lasted a half second more, then died.<\/p>\n
“Nice,” was her immediate reaction, then she thought about the personal implications.\u00a0 “Does it hurt?”<\/p>\n
“Not really,” Isabeau stopped and corrected herself. “Yes,” she said definitely, “but when you expect the shock, you can brace for it.”\u00a0 Isabeau took her time inspecting Blue, amazed at its simplicity.\u00a0 For a short bow, Blue was surprisingly heavy, like really heavy.\u00a0 She pulled at the string with all her might, almost to the point of looking comical.\u00a0 Even at the point of breaking a sweat, she simply could not move it more than half a millimeter.\u00a0 “I think Forge Master Lai designed some special armor for his great, great grand niece using the same type of\u00a0technology.\u00a0 Makes her faster and stronger.”<\/p>\n
Metcalf thought back to Naoh and how fast she moved and how utterly she defeated her opponent in the three strike drill before, “Yeah.”<\/p>\n
“Ok.\u00a0 Last points<\/em> of business.”<\/p>\n “Right almost forgot,” she said honestly.\u00a0 They were having fun and almost immediately became friends.\u00a0 However, they would not be there at all if they were not wagering Academy Points.\u00a0 So what was the amount, twenty per target?\u00a0 That would be recoverable if she lost.\u00a0 Surely, a hundred points per target would have to be the most anyone would want to bet.\u00a0 That would be a fantastic start for the day if she won.<\/p>\n “How does a thousand points sound?”<\/p>\n #1<\/a> \u2013 Lost and Found #5<\/a>\u00a0– Lost and Found #7<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Metcalf and Isabeau walked quietly to the preparation area, a separate room above and behind the seating area of the shooting range.\u00a0 Often the challengers created quite a bit of noise while preparing for their matches.\u00a0 Armor would bump.\u00a0 Ammunition would fall.\u00a0 The challengers would talk.\u00a0 Behind the soundproof wall, they could do what they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[56,47,55,26,2,142,170],"class_list":["post-249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-grand-master-peter-zha","tag-isabeau-bo","tag-master-sef-lai","tag-metcalf-luo","tag-sons-of-sword","tag-sword-mint-academy","tag-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonsofsword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonsofsword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonsofsword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonsofsword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonsofsword.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=249"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/sonsofsword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":394,"href":"https:\/\/sonsofsword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249\/revisions\/394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonsofsword.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonsofsword.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonsofsword.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}