Chapter 18: Flash Spear

Chen Meng did not rush to give his opinion. Instead, he noticed in Lu Guang a temperament reminiscent of what he had seen in Hong Qing—a quality unique to soldiers. His introduction was likely genuine; he must have truly fought against beastly creatures at the borderlands. As for his severed hand, there was surely a story behind it—this was a man of experience.

"Looking at me like this, I don't care what opinions you might have. But since you've chosen me as your instructor this time, this afternoon, it's me who will teach you how to shoot. As for next time, you may choose someone else." Lu Guang spoke indifferently. "Now, let me outline the rules of training. Although you are allowed twelve hours of practice this month, the number of bullets is limited. Within this period, you may fire only a thousand rounds. Any excess will be charged at ten yuan per bullet. If you need more, you can purchase extra bullets on the website. Also, you'll only be practicing with handguns; for any other firearms, you must pay an additional registration fee. If there are no questions, let's begin."

Of course, bullets could not possibly be so expensive; the price included the cost of additional training that came with more rounds.

Lu Guang was decisive. After his introduction, he immediately commenced formal shooting training.

"In high school, you should have learned the basics of shooting. In university, shooting is even included as a course. So I won't repeat the fundamentals. For now, each of you practice on your own, let me see your current skill level."

After Lu Guang finished, the female university student was the first to step up. At fifteen meters, she fired three consecutive shots—two of them hit dead center, leaving Chen Meng quietly drawing in a breath.

The male student was not far behind; of his three shots, one was dead center and the other two grazed the bullseye.

Are university students in this world all this impressive?

"Your turn," Lu Guang said, looking at Chen Meng. Chen Meng didn't waste words—he may not have eaten pork, but he’d certainly seen pigs run.

He picked up the pistol and fired three shots in quick succession, and to his surprise, though none hit the bullseye, none missed the target either.

"Nowadays, firearms have undergone rune enhancement and modification by artifact crafters. Their weight, recoil, and noise have all been greatly reduced, which in turn improves accuracy. Even ordinary people can easily shoot a ten-ring score." Lu Guang explained, "But this doesn't mean you'll definitely hit an enemy in real combat. The foes you'll be facing are nearly all divine-bodied beings. Even at the first rank, they possess greatly enhanced speed, strength, defense, reaction, and perception. They are not standing targets for you to shoot at."

Chen Meng nodded silently to himself.

They were learning this precisely to prepare for future battles against divine-bodied beings.

"If you truly want to pose a threat to them with a gun, you must master real marksmanship. As for what constitutes real marksmanship, I will teach you step by step," Lu Guang said calmly.

"Don’t most instructors teach how to improve accuracy first?" the female student asked, frowning.

"Accuracy depends entirely on talent and practice with bullets. Focusing just on that is a waste of ammunition," Lu Guang replied with some disdain, offending every other instructor in one sentence.

Then he continued, "Today, I'm teaching you something called 'instant draw'—drawing and firing in a flash, also known as conscious shooting. The key is to make your hand move faster than your mind."

As he spoke, there was a sudden movement at his waist—a silver handgun spun into the air. His hand, previously held behind his back, traced a stunning arc and, at an impossible angle, caught the silver handgun. Without aiming, he fired three times in rapid succession.

Bang, bang, bang—all three shots struck dead center.

Only when he finished firing did the three students react.

That hand speed was simply astonishing.

"I didn’t even see how he drew his gun," Chen Meng murmured. "If I could master such marksmanship, I’d definitely have the advantage in combat. Lu Guang wasn’t lying—this is true marksmanship!"

"Didn’t catch it? I’ll show you again," Lu Guang said.

But when he fired another three shots, the three were still bewildered, unable to grasp the essence or how to learn it.

"This is the last time. If you can't learn it now, that's on you," he said, demonstrating a third time. Though each draw was executed differently, the underlying technique was identical.

"I must learn this marksmanship!" Chen Meng grew anxious. Just then, an image appeared in his mind, replaying Lu Guang’s last instant draw in detail.

He didn’t know how this image was captured, but it was now playing back slowly in his mind.

And as he watched, he seemed to understand something.

Suddenly, he noticed changes in his internal data:

Knowledge points: 0

Page numbers: High School Runes (801/862), High School Alchemy (0/909), High School Artifact Crafting (0/712)

Analysis progress: Instant Draw (2%)

Over the past few days, he had spent his accumulated knowledge point buying roast chicken for Mouse Beibei.

Now, a new line had appeared in his data—analysis progress.

Chen Meng quickly understood: consuming knowledge points allowed him to analyze certain abilities or skills, eventually mastering them.

But now he had no knowledge points left and wasn’t sure how to proceed.

After some thought, he took out his phone, opened the Flying Disc Shooting Range website, and purchased another hundred rounds for himself.

After spending a thousand yuan, his knowledge points went from zero to ten.

"Analyze: Instant Draw!"

With a thought, Chen Meng saw the instant draw image replay once more.

After one cycle, his data changed again:

Analysis progress: Instant Draw (3%)

Chen Meng was instantly excited—it worked! One knowledge point per analysis attempt. Without hesitation, he continued analyzing.

But after spending six knowledge points, the data stopped moving.

Analysis progress: Instant Draw (8%)

Chen Meng was puzzled when Lu Guang told them to practice on their own.

He imitated Lu Guang’s movements and fired ten shots in quick succession, but none hit the target. He completely failed to achieve the feeling of his hand moving faster than his mind.

"Try analyzing again!" he thought. It seemed more reliable to improve via knowledge points. The last point hadn’t increased his analysis progress, so maybe more were needed.

He spent another point, and this time, his data advanced:

Analysis progress: Instant Draw (9%)

It moved again!

Chen Meng was overjoyed. But after spending four more points, the data didn’t budge. The analysis progress now stood at 12%.

"It’s probably not about the number of points—it must be... insufficient conditions!" Chen Meng muttered. "After practicing ten shots, my understanding of the gun and feel improved, so further analysis advanced. In summary, the analysis progress depends on my own condition. If I have no foundation in a skill, I might not be able to analyze it at all. It’s like being given various conditions to solve a problem—without enough, you can’t find the answer."

To test his theory, Chen Meng practiced a bit more, then spent another point on analysis, and sure enough, his progress advanced once again.

Time flew by—two hours passed in an instant.

"How can you all be so hopeless? Each of you has fired nearly two hundred rounds, and still you haven’t even found the doorway to this technique."

"Useless, all of you!"

"I’ve never seen such foolish students—no sense for marksmanship at all."

...

Listening to Lu Guang grumble nearby, Chen Meng ignored him, but the other two students were on the verge of tears.

What a terrible instructor—no wonder so few signed up for his training.

Others at the range noticed and snickered quietly; after all, the three of them had fired nearly two hundred shots each, yet there were hardly any bullet holes on their targets.