CHAPTER III

The small crowd of students that had informally gathered to watch the demonstration had been somewhat surprising. Judging from their comments, Louise and her explosions seemed to be their main source of entertainment at the school. Her boasts that her familiar was going to be a dragon hunter just spurred them on. The two old men – Mr Colbert and the headmaster, had meanwhile been directing assistants to set up some straw bales some distance away.

The crowds reaction to his first shot was not awe, or fear, as he had expected, but laughter.

'I take back what I said earlier Louise, this really must be your Familiar – his spells blow up too!'

Mr Colbert, who had been watching rather more closely, frowned, but said nothing.

Brent continued shooting – quickly adjusting for the range, and placing shot after shot into the target, which must have been about two hundred metres away. As he continued his demonstration, he absently noting that though the world his character was set in now seemed real, his gun preformed much as it usually did. The ballistics were modelled realistically – he still had to account for bullet drop, and the time it took for the bullet to reach the target, but other differences were marked. He'd been to a real rifle-range once or twice, and his accuracy was much worse than here. Here, holding down shift would cause his avatar to 'hold it's breath', and the wandering aiming reticle would still – allowing him to get a near perfect shot every time. Judging from the response from the onlookers, who didn't have noise protection, his gun was much quieter than a real one too.

The onlookers had quietened down when he continued firing, realising the bang of his gun going off hadn't indicated failure. Those of the students who had seen muskets in action, and Mr Colbert, looked quietly thoughtful at his rate of fire, and the range at which he was firing. As they walked up the improvised range to look at the shot placement, the students seemed to have given him, and by relation, Louise, a measure of respect. Thankfully Louise wasn't actually boasting, but she was certainly very smug about the way she walked beside him. This disapeared when they actually reached the bales however.

'Wow, Louise, your Familiar is just as amazing as you said. It's ability to paint black dots on things will be great when it faces down a dragon.'

Yep. None of his shots had actually pierced the target, only painted 'bullet hole' sprites all over it. It seemed his weapons had the same effect they had in game too. No more, and no less. But if that was the case...

'It figures that a 'zero' like you would have a zero as a Familiar.'

It was the same blond haired fop who had spoken earlier, apprently trying to impress his friends. Louise was looking more and more miserable, and even though Brent didn't know the girl, and didn't even particulary like her, the treatment she was getting was starting to get a bit much.

[Ub3rL33t1: Hey you. The one with the blond hair and stupid puffy shirt. You're very ready to insult Louise – I suppose you can do better? Or is talk all your good for?]

The students joking quietened down as one by one they noticed his challenge. One of his friends nudged the fop – who had been busy trying to impress the girl by his side. He looked up, read the text, and scowled.

Glaring at Brent, he waved a hand comptemptuously. A single rose petal flew out of his sleeve before drifting slowly down to the ground. The ground it settled on was split open as something – a statue of some kind, forced it's way to the surface. Only – no, it wasn't a statue. Someone in a suit of bronzed armour. Or perhaps a golim. On reaching the surface, the figure smoothly drew it's sword and threw it – where it whirled end over end before burying itself to the hilt in the straw target. The whole time, the young man hadn't taken his eyes off Brent.

'When you can do better than that, you may speak of me as you please. Until then, it would behove you to not speak ill of your betters.'

Brent ignored the fops words. The young man may have some abilities, but a skilled fool is still a fool. Brent glided forward, examining first the sword embedded in the target, and then the golim – which had taken up position in front of it's summoner.

The young man, bristled at being ignored, turned to Louise.

'It's no surprise that one such as you should have such a poorly behaved familiar. Reign your familiar in, Zero, or I'll do it for you.'

His golim strode forward and retrieved it's sword from the target, and waved it in the general direciton of Brent to illustrate.

Brent knew he should ignore the idiot, but he was so irritating. The rifle flipped back into his hands, and he placed a three round burst into the chest of the golim. Despite the figure being made of bronze, there were pixilated blood spurts from where his bullets hit, and the Grolim crumbled. First figeratevly, collapsing to the ground, then literally, reverting back into dirt.

The fop glared at him, and negligently swung his arm out, releasing three rose petals this time.

'So you wish to challenge me for real, then?'

AUTHORS NOTES:

Yeah, this would have been out by saturday, but I've had a super busy week. Or weekend. Or something.

Also, the whole [Ub34L33t1: ] thing is getting really annoying to write. I'm pretty sure Brent's going to find himself a headset with a mic the next time he signs in.