“This is just an empty patch of air,” Marie said quietly. “How on Orb is this a sniping spot for anyone? Any place would work, right?”

“Not true, marshal,” Paragon Ying Xin replied. “Although I can’t blame you for thinking that way. After a few months of fighting, we’ve roughly mapped out the force concentrations of Conrah’s troops, whenever an attack begins. This spot is one of the best in terms of spotting enemies.”

“Or so they say, anyway.” Gaius shrugged. “I told them that stationing me on Feng-Lang itself would work, but the higher-ups had absolutely no confidence in my ability to land shots at such a distance.”

‘I-is that so?” Aziz asked. “I suppose asking your superiors the same question twice might make them angry afterwards.”

“They probably didn’t want a repeat of friendly fire, now that Paragon Ying Xin brought it up,” said the boy. “Well, let’s not waste time. The principle behind my attacks lies in the stacking of multiple sigils together. My usual attacks are made up of fifty explosion sigils and twenty-five quickening ones, enough to cover half a combat zone.”

Gaius took out his Moonshot. “Originally, I was just using quickening sigils to enable long-range attacks, but after I discovered that other sigils could be stacked onto each other…the possibilities are limitless.”

The weapon unfurled, transforming into a long, exquisite rifle-like artefact. “This is the Moonshot, an artefact I, uhh, appropriated. As you can see, it’s designed for long-range engagements, even further than that of the Straight Shot. Basically, I just draw multiple sigils, and then…”

Small circles floated out of Gaius’ hand, aligning themselves in front of the barrel. “Every sigil seems to have a point at which growth seems to stagnate. Twenty-five quickening sigils enable my shots to instantly land anywhere on this battlefield. Further tests don’t change anything for me.”

“The next sigil I use is the explosion sigil. No prizes for guessing what it does,” said the boy. “For the purposes of this demonstration, I’ll just draw twenty-five…”

Once again, his hand turned into a blur. It took a whole fifteen minutes to draw the explosion sigils — they were more complex — and more importantly, it wasn’t like he was pressed for time at all. Drawing these sigils at incredible speeds were taxing on the tendons. No matter how strong his body and skin were, the little parts were the most vulnerable.

Water churned madly as Gaius fired at the sea. A ball of light was rapidly expanding on the surface of the water, whipping up waves. He had checked that there was no one there before firing at it — otherwise, his shot would go on and on. Without a target to hit, it was incredibly dangerous to fire such a shot.

Dangers of missing, however, were overlooked by the Plenum and the people at the Eastern battlefront in general. No one really cared about where that stray shot went, but Gaius had heard stories, back on Earth, about the outcomes of stray artillery shots. As well as the problems with “eyeballing it” — Sir Issac Newton was the deadliest son-of-a-bitch in war, after all.

The boy had no desire to have his name on case studies that looked into deaths caused by stray shots. It was an honour he could definitely do without, or rather, it was something that he didn’t need at all. This sentiment, however, was one that the Eastern Territories clearly didn’t give a damn about, but fortunately, he was the party with the advantage in their current arrangement.

“That’s about it.” Gaius folded up the Moonshot, returning it into its handgun form. “If you are wondering why the East was so willing to teach you this technique, it’s because it’s pretty much impossible for anyone alone to replicate this method. For one, I’m not going to disseminate these sigils, and more importantly, no one is able to draw them like I do.”

“I figured as much.” Marie caressed her own artefact — it looked like an upgraded and refined version of the crude-looking Straight Shots — and scowled. “Looks like we got suckered.”

“Now, now,” said Paragon Ying Xin. “That’s one hell of a strong word. Besides, who said that you couldn’t make something like this on your own? We at the Plenum had come up with a few methods to replicate Gaius’ feat. It’s just that they are implausible, wasteful or both, so that’s why we never got too far with them.”

“What methods?” Aziz asked.

“Simple,” said the Paragon. “Just get twenty-five people to draw two sigils each. The average time to draw sigils like this is around ten minutes.”

She tapped her head. “Simple, isn’t it? Just some creativity and warm bodies required to create your own Gaius. It’s an idea many came up with after a day or so, but for good reason, we never got around to implementing little Gaius squads.”

“Naming entire squads around me is nothing short of embarrassing, Paragon.” Gaius shook his head, his eyes on a small squad of people. They had been alarmed by the sudden explosion, but once they arrived on the scene, the sight of Paragon Ying Xin talking to a few other people had scared them away effortlessly. Even now, they were being surreptitious about sneaking away.

“Doesn’t that sort of render the Northern artillery forces moot?” Marie asked.

“No, not really. My suggested set up takes twenty minutes for a single shot, with twenty-five people dedicated to it. It is far inferior to even our own artillery forces, in terms of lethality per manpower and lethality per minute.” The Paragon smiled. “More importantly, you’ll need people with Engines, since they’re a requirement to manifest sigils. Not many Knights even have them in the first place. The Lords, the Paragons…would you see them gathering together to create an attack like this?”

“So…this tactic is, logistically speaking, nearly impossible to replicate. And Gaius’ sigils, like many others, are secrets of his own. And it’s not like you didn’t see how complex these things are,” said the Paragon.

“At the end of the day, you’re telling us that this technique is so niche, there isn’t really a good way to use this stacking thing.” Aziz folded his arms.

“A Dynamo with Sigil Manipulation will solve your problems,” said Ying Xin.

“The base Dynamo is already a miracle,” Marie replied. “I don’t think it’s possible to scale Sigil Manipulation down. An Engine is a way to manifest Paragon-rank abilities — something as complex as Sigil Manifestation won’t be scaled down easily.”

“If the North could find ways to weaken Flight and Barrier, I don’t see why they can’t do the same for sigils.” Paragon Ying Xin folded her arms.

“Well, until they do, it’s not really useful.”

The Paragon shrugged helplessly. “Well, that’s all for the demonstration. If there’s nothing else, we can return to base first. Early dinner’s available for Knights and above, if they so wish it.”

“That sounds nice,” said Marie. “C’mon, Aziz, let’s get some food.”

“How about you, Gaius?” Aziz asked.

“I’ll pass.” The boy smiled. “I have…things to do. Some mediation, some practice…things regarding the ongoing war. Paragon, if you could, please send me the Engine by today. I need to change my current one out.”

It was a lie, of course, since Gaius didn’t even know how to change an Engine. But no one needed to know that. With a smile, the boy nodded in farewell, returning to his room with all due haste.