Author's Note: Sorry for the delay in chapters, but two more chapters to book end and I am trying to bring it all to a close, so I can start book two. Is not as easy as I thought lol.

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Chapter 55 Eddie got a gun

We head out on foot, all 13 of the military personnel, Cindy, Julie, Ki'Diera, and of course Eddie went along as well. I added all of them to my group now that I had 24 slots, Rick, Foutz and the rest had removed themselves from the group to form their own while I was out for four days. So now I had 18 sots filled with 6 to spare.

We broke into two groups, one for the left side and one for right side of the street to move from intersection to intersection, checking stores on the way out of the zone for creatures. As we approached intersections each point would give a signal if clear or how many creatures were seen, if any. With the Elite patrolling, so far we have not had any issues with creatures inside our zone, but it is big, 5km radius from the keep.

We are heading West, towards the Were-beasts area. I wanted to have a look myself and see how far the structure is along now and also their numbers. As we got to the 3km range from the Keep we spotted the first of them. My Crown ability, detection, only goes out 45 meters right now, so they are out of my range. Making a quick count, I see 11 of them, but it looks like one is different from the others. It carries a blackened, warped staff.

They are over a 100 meters away and as usual, seem to be sniffing the air as they walk, We are hiding in the door ways of shops right now or behind abandoned vehicles.

I can handle these guys Cindy thinks to me.

Lets let those folks handle it and we be their back up for now.

Alright Scott.

All have their Mana charged rifles pointed at the Were-Beasts, we agreed they use them till half mana, then switch to the M27's to conserve mana. At current level of an avg of 6, they could use the mana charged Rifles for about 4 min in a fight, hopefully it does not last longer than that.

Eddie noticed me motioning for him to target the Staff Wielder, and he nods setting up his sniper rifle. I then ordered the shot and all shots hit with precision. However Eddies shot was deflected by a mana barrier, which the mage had set up. It flickered slightly.

I looked and of the 10 were-beast 6 were still standing but badly injured. 4 died in the initial assault, holes drilled thru them multiple times. I cursed silently, as the staff wielder still stood.

NOTICE!Your party has received 28 xp each

NOTICE!Your party has received 28 xp each

NOTICE!Your party has received 28 xp each

NOTICE!Your party has received 28 xp each

The Staff wielder barked out orders and the 6 badly wounded, ignoring their wounds charged us, while he muttered something. Eddie got off another shot, but once again the barrier held.

The Were beast got whithin 50 meters, I finally got to identify them,

Creature!Were-beast level 55

Another 13 shots flashed, plus Cindy let off a Fireball of her own engulfing the area, it was huge. All 6, but the staff wielder dropped dead, who completed his spell. A Fireball sprang forth enveloping the area we were in. I felt the heat but Julie's mana barrier held which she had erected before the fight, covering a 5.6m radius from her, effectively shielding our team. It flickered brightly stopping the magic, but the heat was still intense.

NOTICE!Your party has received 28 xp each

NOTICE!Your party has received 28 xp each

NOTICE!Your party has received 28 xp each

NOTICE!Your party has received 28 xp each

NOTICE!Your party has received 28 xp each

NOTICE!Your party has received 28 xp each

The other team was not so lucky taking the full brunt of the blast, their mana barriers flickered and collapsed almost immediately. Burned badly they were on the ground groaning in pain. Their mana barriers took the brunt of the attacks, but severe damage was done.

I aimed my Rifle which I had out and charged, forget about overkill, the people come first and foremost. I let loose the shot and the recoil almost knocked me back, but I had braced myself. The shot rang true and an explosion rang out, leaving a massive crater in it's place, no Staff Wielder to be seen. Everything within 50 meters was destroyed, including shops and cars. Fires were burning in the wreckage.

NOTICE!Your party has received 30xp each

We ran to the wounded and Julie began her healing on them, While I grabbed healing potions and began to administer them quickly. With the Drow, we picked up 6 more so I had 11 total in my inventory and used one on each for now. 8 potions went quickl,y leaving me with 3 left. Grabbing our wounded we headed back to the School, leaving the area quickly. Fucking magic! God damn it, how many of those staff wielders do they have in their arsenal?

We get back to the school, it took us about 15 min to make it back, Each of the wounded was carried. Julie, while running with us, tried as best as she could, to do her heals. We got them into the infirmary and the Doctors took over casting their healing magics to heal the burns and wounds.

The rest of us headed for the Cafeteria to await word on the wounded when the nurses ushered us out of the room. Sgt Montgomery was among the wounded.

As we all sat at the table we began to talk of the events that unfolded.

“Man that sucks, that magic is harsh”, Lance Corporal Hicks, 5'11” tall African American, muscular build, fair looks, comments” I hope those guys are ok.

“How do we counter that? We had good cover and it still hit us all” says another African American, female, with average looks, slight bulge in the chest area, about 5'10”tall, her name is Sgt Halloway, asks.

“We need more levels, get your mana up and your Barriers more effective. We will have to focus on the staff wielders first, I did not think Eddies shots would be deflected like that.” I reply to them as they all look to me.

“Man, I hope they will all be ok” says Corporal Lopez, 5'7” Hispanic male, stocky, below avg features. Says thinking out loud.

The other at the table nod at the comment.

“They should be fine by morning if not this evening.” Cindy says to the gathering at the table.

“What I do not get is, I shot a hole thru one of them and it kept on coming. It was not till the second shot it finally fell dead. How tough are these guys? Any normal person with a hole like that would have died on the spot.” Says Lance Corporal Hicks”

“Yeah me too, I got one thru the stomach leaving a gaping hole and it stood there....” says a white female, short cut blonde hair , 5'5” fair looks, a little plump at the waist, also a slight bulge in the chest, her name was Private First Class Hawkens.

“Yes but those beasts fell faster than I have ever seen before, it usually takes many arrows or sword strikes, to kill them. Unless you are lucky and strike the head in a single blow and pierce their armor.” Ki'Diera adds.

"But that barrier, it deflected two of my shots and was still up.” Eddie complained

“Eddie, you till have not chosen a profession, that is part of the problem I think.” I say to him, then I address the rest of the assembled group.

“We have to understand these guys are level 55, and you are under level 10. There is a major gap in levels. Also your rifles grow with you, the higher level you are the more powerful the shot. That you took it down in 2 hits is already amazing to be honest. It confirms how powerful those Rifles really are.” I say to them.

“Also the mana barriers saved their lives, so that too is something to think about. As we all grow stronger, it will become easier for us” I finish looking at them as they take in my words. Julie stayed with the Doctors and Nurses and helped heal the wounded.

We talked for a few more minutes when she came to us, looking exhausted. “I used up all my mana for now, and even some of yours and Ki'Diera Scott, sorry, but....”

“That is ok Julie, do whatever needs to be done.,...”, I say to her, standing up and grabbing her into a hug. She looked like she could use one.

She nods,” they are doing fine, the Doctors will do some follow up heals later, bu for now they are all resting, all are out of the woods and in good condition.” She says to everyone. With that all have a look of relief on their faces and relax.

“So did anyone level in that skirmish?” I ask.

Each one nods in turn or says yes, as all had reach level 7. Doc Snow came to let us know it was ok to go and see them now and some were awake. As a group we headed to the infirmary and visited the rest of the group. All looked much better, most of the burns were gone and the burns left were covered in a salve.

Sgt Montgomery was awake and asked,” Did we lose anyone?”

I smiled to him, “no, everyone came back and will make a full recovery by this evening or morning”.

He relaxed, “Good, I want to get back out there and give them some payback”.

Many if not all agreed with his statement. We went over the events again with Sgt Montgomery and those awake. What we learned and what we can do different. The plan is to head out in the morning again. Neither Julie, Cindy Ki'Diera or myself gained a level from the skirmish.

My concern right now was Eddie, who has not chosen a profession, he was being stubborn saying he can come up with something better than a super soldier, but so far has come up with nothing on his own.

I decide to pull Eddie to the side alone, letting the girls know I wanted some private time with him.

“Eddie got a minute?” I ask him and motion for him to follow me

“Sure what is up gunny?” he says and follows.

We head for his room and close the door”huh? Gunny this looks serious, did I screw up?”

“No Eddie, but you still have not chosen a profession and that need to be fixed asap” I say to him.

“I know, and I tried, but I just can not envision the advanced stuff like they did,” he confesses,” as much as I try, I get nothing, I simply see myself holding my sniper rifle in camo, but the rest is all a blank to me as if something is missing”.

“How about I help guide you thru it?”I ask him.

“Sure, we can try it gunny.” he says reluctantly.

“Alright try this, close your eyes then and listen to me”, I say to him. I wait for him to close his eyes and relax.

“Sniper right? I ask to make sure.

“Yeah” he answers

"Ok see yourself crawling in the brush, but you are not visible, but instead invisible, inching closer to the enemy to get your shot. Only the brush moves but you are not seen....got it?”I ask him

“Yeah I can see that happening, we use good camo in the field,” so we are very hard to be seen.

“No I want you to imagine yourself invisible, not just not seen due to camo, but invisible to the eye.” I say to him to correct him.

“Ok I can play along, I am invisible now,” He says amused.

“Ok now imagine you body stronger, faster, healthier, top condition putting all the others to shame.” I say to him slowly, as if leading a hypnotized person thru a memory.” for every mile they run you can run three, for every foot they can jump you can jump higher, and if you get cut, the wound closes almost instantly.”

"Ok I am with you so far, but it feels odd tho, something is nagging at me, like the image is wrong somehow.” He says now concentrating.

“It is the system helping you, do not fight it, let the image come on it's own, stay focused on yourself and let yourself be guided by the system.” I say to him.

After a few moments he speaks up” ok it feels better, but still incomplete”.

“Alright now imagine you taking the shot, you fire a high powered rifle, the slug is magically enhanced, and blows the head off of a person, leaving nothing behind.” I say to him.

“That I can see hehe, ok got it.” He says

“Ever see the movie Predator?” I ask him.

“Yeah I loved it, what about it” he asks

“Imagine your combat gear able to do that”, I say to him, trying to give him visual help.

“Oh man that is nice stuff, and hey it feels right.” He says, then exclaims in excitement, ”Hey gunny I just got a notice about my profession, Predator Sniper.

“Accept it!” I say to him in anticipation.

“Done”, he says,”ooh what is this, my inventory is now available gunny.”

“Hurry and gear up, Eddie I want to see what you envisioned” I say to him excitedly now.

After explaining how to make the presets and equip his gear, Eddie stand before me in standard Desert Sniper camo gear. He then activates his stealth mode and becomes distorted to the eye, see thru with light distortions making him blend into the background. If you did not look close enough you could not tell he was even there. He then releases the stealth mode and is back to normal.

His rifle was a sniper rifle but slightly bigger than norm, the barrel longer and wider in width. It was mana enhanced. It held a cartidge of 15 rounds. By adding mana the slugs took on one of two properties. Re-enforced shell making it denser and harder at the tip. The other mode was explosive, by allowing it to charge the explosive gained capacity, giving it a high yield explosive. Basically it did not mater where he hit, anything close was vaporized in the vicinity under normal conditions. But these are not normal creatures, so will see how well it fares.

His Stat bonuses were not too bad either, I wish he had more imagination, but that is ok, his weapon more than makes up for any deficiencies he has physically. He want to test the Rifle right away so we rush to a Watch Tower and I act as his spotter.

I give him the coords and target, it is a church clock tower, the target is the center of the hands. It is a little under a 1000 meters away. After he gets the target in his sights, concentrating, relaxes and then fires, it is a quiet rifle. Almost no sound heard. I watch and both hands fall off the clock, falling to the ground a big hole in the center. He used the re-enforced shell. After a moment he fires again and the Tower is destroyed in an explosion. Nothing is left of the top of the tower, almost cut in half, jagged edges protrude upward from the remains of the structure. He used explosive this time.

Satisfied with the results we head back to the cafeteria. Going over future mission, setting priority targets, staff wielders or anything not Were-beast looking if it is leading the Were-beast groups. We part company, I spend the rest of the evening with my wives, have dinner, then we head for bed and have a nice round of making love, or in Ki'Diera's case rough sex. Her appetite came back with a vengeance and with her now having access to my Sexual stamina, pleasing her was hard. Even Julie and Cindy commented on her appetite.

Getting very little sleep morning approached and we headed for the showers then the Cafeteria, where the group was all assembled and waiting. We went over some corrections to our set up then headed out. Our destination was the same as yesterdays.

We arrived and sure enough another group of 10 with a Staff Wielder was spotted. Nodding to Eddie he targeted the Staff Wielder, just like yesterday and fired. This time, the head vaporized. The shield flickered briefly, but was snuffed out. Everyone else opened fire and before the Were-Beasts could get close to us the remaining 10 were dead in no time.

Much better, now we can grind our levels!