Chapter 19: Toy

Words : 1299 Updated : Sep 10th, 2025

Chapter 19: Toy Luca was sprawled at the top of the wall, right before the seventh obstacle. He looked funny, but who cares when he made it over? Those who could laugh were part of the staff and the first three people who finished the obstacle. The rest could only wonder how he managed to do it. The other students were initially concerned about looking cool like the first three examinees, but trying to look cool has not gotten them anywhere. It's hard to look cool when most have singed hair and wet clothes. Luca panted while gathering himself to sit down before tackling the last two obstacles. The seventh one was why he saved up much of his spiritual energy. A pool-sized quicksand. His plan was to coat himself with a layer of spiritual energy so that he could flop on his back and waddle through it. But Luca had to make sure he was the only one trying for this obstacle. He already saw several people using others as a raft to cross. He had no physical strength and would probably die the moment someone attempted to do something like that to him. So Luca rested patiently and picked the middle, which everyone else seemed to avoid. Anyway, his plan was to get through this in one go. Because if he failed this, he knew he wouldn't be able to redo the first six obstacles. Luca wouldn't be able to repeat the sixth obstacle after passing it with sheer prayers. So this was all or nothing. When Luca chose to start in the middle, most people paused to judge his thinking. While the students fought for the sides where it would be easier to cross with the wall's assistance, Luca deliberately went for the pool's centerline. With his back facing the pool, he slowly eased himself into the quicksand. The layer of spiritual energy worked wonders as expected, and Luca managed to backstroke his way to the pool's other end. To the onlookers, he looked like a major cheater. Many people failed to overcome this obstacle, and some even started using others to bridge the gaps. While Luca was cutting through the sand like it was butter. Instructor Falco couldn't help but laugh at this examinee. The other examinees that passed made it by propelling themselves like bullets, only cushioning their feet with spiritual energy as they skipped on top of the quicksand. But this kid swam on it. His solution was by no means intimidating, but he got the job done. With his interest piqued, he figured he'd check the student's file once the test was over. Luca ignored the people's clamor regarding his success. All that mattered to him was the look on the instructor's face. Provided he wasn't being called out for cheating, he was fine and would proceed as planned. The last obstacle was a modified shooting range. Luca calls it modified because it allowed different throwing weapons to be used. He has 10 tries, during which he must hit the enlarged bullseye at least three times. Luca carefully considered the available weapons. The only advantage of this obstacle was being allowed to change weapons as many times as possible. Luca never really had access to weapons, except for kitchen knives and maybe the firewood axe. But there was no way he could throw that fifty meters away and expect it to land. He could use his spiritual powers to guide it, but it would look like a ghost was carrying the weapon. It was not really the best method, considering how everyone's been eyeing him weirdly. He ought to try the guns. Maybe the plasma gun wouldn't have that bad of a recoil. Luca was wrong. And the cartoons were definitely lying. Those little critters wouldn't be able to fire the plasma gun even if they tried. He was so surprised about his first shot that he only managed to hit the ground. So much for trying guns. "Host, maybe you should stay away from guns for now?" D-29 asked, wary about Luca shooting his own foot. It seemed that was highly possible. "Yeah, I think so, too." Luca returned the plasma gun gently, as if worried that it would misfire if he placed it incorrectly. There were gleaming rows of weapons ranging from battle hammers, javelins, different bows, and several knives. But Luca couldn't pick those for fear of not being able to carry them towards his lane. "They have so many weapons, but I'm not really capable of using any..." It was then that Luca saw something that looked familiar. His ears perked up at the sight, and he was hopeful his guess was correct. "Please let it be what I think it is..." "Host, what weapon are you hoping for?" "I'm not sure if this is even a weapon, but it looks like one of those toys I used to play with." Luca barely had any toys after the other children stole them, but he managed to weasel away one toy that didn't interest the others. It was too small and could only be played by one person at a time, so Luca managed to keep it. "Is that a Bandalore?" "I hope so. And I'm surprised you know what a Bandalore is. When most people would only know yo-yo." "But this one looks really big. Is that normal, host?" D-29's concern was valid, considering it was the size of a baby's head. Despite its size, it was surprisingly lightweight, and Luca wondered if it functioned like the off-string yo-yo he was familiar with. He felt the grip of the high-tech string, and he wasn't surprised to learn that it was made of flexible metal because it looked that way. It's been a while since he's used a yo-yo, so Luca decided to practice off to the side. The only disadvantage of his old toy was that he had to keep manually winding it, especially when he first learned how to play. But to Luca's surprise, the moment the yo-yo caught the edge of the string, it latched by itself; it only needed a slight slack for it to bind return. "Woah, host! It seems like you really know how to use this weapon!" Even Luca felt great. He had been so worried about not being able to use anything that just a basic bind return could make him feel this happy. "Are you just going to throw it like that, host?" "Ideally, no. The distance is quite far, and I'm still not sure how far this yo-yo could go. But I'll try a forward toss to see how far it would go naturally." Luca flicked his wrist as his arm pulled back. The yo-yo launched as expected, and Luca liked the sound it made as it spun towards the target. But just as he predicted, the trajectory was downward when it got to around 75% of the way. It wasn't going to hit the bullseye this way. "Oh no! It won't hit the target at this rate!" "It's fine. I just wanted to see the distance of the most basic toss. If anything, the concern is how to retrieve the yo-yo after it hits the ground." Surprisingly, modern humans have solved this problem. The yo-yo was like a homing device. After hitting the ground, it suddenly returned to the string. "Wow! Now that's convenient!" Luca couldn't help but marvel at this weapon, which was leagues better than when he had to manually pick up his yo-yo. Okay, now let's try this for real.

Chapter 19: Toy

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