Zion stood in the center of the training room, surrounded by reinforced walls and thick impact plating beneath his feet. Everything was quiet except for the sound of his own breathing.
For a mont, he didn’t move, deep in thought.
"Now which one should we go with first," he mumbled to himself.
There were too many options to choose from.
He had a total of six unique weapons to review after the breakthrough, since even his older weapons had evolved.
After a short pause, he made his choice.
"Let’s start with one of the new D-rank weapons," he said calmly. "The halo."
[Affirmative,] Uriel replied. [The unique weapon is called the Ruler’s Halo. Just send so energy to your skull while thinking about it.]
Zion nodded once, trusting Uriel without any doubt.
He imdiately forced so energy to flow upward, his mind going back to the courtroom as he focused on it.
Suddenly, a strange sensation ca from the top of his skull.
Zion stiffened slightly as sothing shifted uncomfortably before pulling itself out of his head.
"Tch," he hissed, feeling a faint sting.
As he lightly scratched his head, his eyes darted to the mirror on the far side of the room.
Zion walked over calmly and glanced at it, his eyes narrowing slightly.
A grey-colored halo floated above his head.
Or rather, three pieces of it.
The grey ring was cracked into three different segnts, each orbiting slowly around his head. Several thin lines ran along each segnt, each giving off a very faint blue light.
"What are those?" he muttered.
[No accessible data found,] Uriel responded and paused for a mont. [...We should be able to find that out in later breakthroughs.]
Zion narrowed his eyes slightly, but nodded.
"I don’t really like all these mysteries," he mumbled. "But, it’s fine. Let’s move on."
He let out a deep breath, concentrating on the most important information he needed to know.
"This halo," he started. "What does it do?"
[The halo releases a passive psychological effect,] Uriel explained. [It emits a constant subconscious pressure onto its opponents.]
Zion raised an eyebrow.
"This pressure... is it the sa thing I felt from the Verdant Sentinels?"
[Correct,] Uriel replied, a hint of excitent in its voice. [Weaker opponents may freeze in place out of fear. Stronger opponents experience delayed reactions or montary hesitation.]
Zion’s lips slowly curved upward.
"So it sses with their instincts," he said. "I like that."
Not only was it a great weapon for one-on-one fights, it also filled a gap he had always struggled with: fighting against numbers.
’A single mont of hesitation could cost soone their life, even if they are stronger than .’
[Affirmative,] Uriel said cheerfully. [It also doesn’t cost too much energy to maintain. With your current capacity, you could keep it active for three hours.]
Zion let out a low chuckle, a glint of excitent flashing past his eyes.
"Now that’s just nasty."
He fell silent for a mont and shook his head.
"Deactivate it for now," he said. "We’ve got more to look at."
The grey segnts dissolved into particles of light instantly, sinking back into his skull. As all the particles returned, the faint sting faded as well.
Zion rolled his neck once, unable to get the smile off his face.
"That was a good start," he muttered. "But let’s move on."
’Should I check the gravity wings first, or the judgnt lance—’
As he turned back toward the center of the room, sothing clicked in his mind.
He froze.
"I completely forgot," he said slowly. "Now that I’ve reached the D-rank, I should have so random basic weapons too, right?"
Uriel didn’t respond imdiately.
[Affirmative,] it finally said, a hint of hesitation in its voice. [However, the host’s situation is... irregular.]
"What do you an?" he asked, tilting his head.
[Only one basic weapon was generated,] Uriel continued, its tone unusually hesitant. [And it’s a weapon that has mostly been forgotten about because it was considered impractical in modern combat.]
Zion’s brows furrowed.
"Impractical how?"
Uriel didn’t answer right away.
"...Uriel?"
[Summoning will provide clarification,] it finally said.
"Alright," he replied. "Show ."
He raised his right hand, unsure what to expect as he channeled energy toward it.
Nanobot material rapidly left his body, forming sothing solid in his hands.
His eyes widened slightly.
In his hand rested a perfectly symtrical, circular blade with edges all the way around. Its center was hollowed out, fitting a handle that allowed it to be held or thrown as one pleased.
Zion turned it slowly, inspecting every angle.
"...A throwing weapon?"
[Affirmative. It’s called a chakram,] Uriel said. [A disc-shaped weapon optimized for both short- and long-range combat.]
"Both?" he repeated, raising an eyebrow.
[Correct. The chakram is a very powerful weapon in the right hands, but it’s incredibly hard to master.]
That only made Zion more interested.
He glanced at one of the tal dummies on the far right of the training room.
"Let’s see," he muttered.
Zion took a step back, rolled his shoulder once, and pulled his arm back.
Then, he threw it with all his strength.
The chakram let out a high whistle as it sliced through the air at incredible speed.
CLANG—
It slamd into the dummy with terrifying force, slicing deep into the reinforced plating before getting stuck.
Zion froze for a mont.
Those dummies were made of peak D-grade material, yet the chakram sliced into it with ease.
"...Huh."
[That was a terrible throw,] Uriel remarked. [Based on raw strength alone.]
Zion stared at the dummy, then at his empty hand.
"And what if I did master this?"
[With proper mastery,] Uriel paused for a mont. [The chakram can slice through multiple targets in succession and return to the host after.]
This ti, Zion couldn’t keep his mouth closed.
After a few seconds, he shook his head, chuckling.
"I’ve never heard of sothing this ridiculous."
He walked over, pulling the chakram free before holding it up to his eyes.
"Alright," he said, satisfaction evident in his voice. "You better have a training mode for these things, Uriel."
[Naturally,] Uriel responded.
With a flick of his finger, the chakram slowly dissolved back into nanobot material.
Zion sat down on the ground, his imagination running at full speed as he thought about both weapons he had seen so far.
He was already so impressed, despite still having multiple unique weapons left to look at.
’It really is turning for the better,’ he thought, comparing himself to the miserable person he had once been in the military squad. ’And I can only imagine how strong the weapons I get in the future will be.’
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