Shooting rifles were something Sevs had pretty much no experience with. Not only were the worlds heavily skewed towards fantasy when he was in a sci-fi world, but he also went for the infantry path. Usually, he would be a pilot or engineer. Unfortunately, this wasn’t always the case, he did know one end of a gun from the other, but that was about it. The only saving grace was that none of the others seemed to know how to shoot.

During competitions, Sevs hadn’t done poorly; of the thirteen competitors, he usually was seventh. A couple times, he had won. A few more times, it had taken all his effort to avoid being last. As expected, the ones who performed the best were more dexterity-based builds. Natural ability ruled all when there was no experience and no time for training to take effect.

This development greatly pleased Jason and made him unsuitable to be around. He won the entire competition more than he lost. That was with twelve other competitors. Only as the challenges got more complicated did he start to struggle. This is where people who had invested in INT or WIS started to challenge him. Some of the more mobility-based challenges favored the AGI builds. CHA, STR, and CON were really left out to dry, though. Sevs only managed to get by virtue of more combat experience and better effective endurance. Right now, it was better than those with higher modifiers, but that wouldn’t last forever as they raised the base values of the STR and AGI and such.

When they started duels was when things started getting interesting.

They were told team exercises would become a more prominent part of their training after learning specialist roles. But for now, they wanted them all to get used to shooting while being shot at. There were many different formats, but they started out with the simplest. Random pairings.

As they finished hand-to-hand combat training, Zim took out an actual hat. Sevs wasn’t sure where he got that as Sevs hadn’t seen a single hat since arriving here. However, it was honest to god top hat with a red ribbon tied right above the brim. With some showmanship, Zim flipped it upside down and started pulling out slips of paper.

“Robert and...” Zim fished around the hat before coming up with another slip. “Jason!”

The last was said with vibrato. Robert and Jason looked at each other. Roberts’s lips were pressed together until they turned white. Jason was giving him an evil grin. Sure Jason was a good shot but unprepared and under pressure, he wasn’t nearly as good. Also, his decision-making skills tended to slip. This meant that actual combat wouldn’t be as easy for him as he thought. That might not be true now, though. He wasn’t in that much trouble as Robert suffered from all the same issues as Jason and didn’t have the immaculate aim to make up for it either.

This continued until almost everyone had a partner. Bexy had one of the younger boys. That would be interesting; both could have been better. Soshal was unlucky, though. She was a decent shot and okay under pressure. However, luck wasn’t with her today. She got Carl. Carl was who Sevs considered the most dangerous opponent. He was just behind Jason in pure shooting, but he didn’t crack under pressure at all. Carl was averagely aged, maybe just thirteen, but was already as tall as Sevs. He didn’t talk much, but it was soft and measured when he did. Soshal was in trouble.

There was an odd number of people, so once the last pair had been made, Sevs looked around. “I just get to sit this one out? Or does someone need to go twice?”

“No, that won’t be necessary,” Zim said.

“What am I supposed to fight, myself?” As soon as these words left his mouth, Sevs knew the answer. He was screwed.

Zim’s face now sported a wolfish grin. “No, as amusing that may be. I will be your opponent.”

***

They had a chance to eat before the duels began. It was an exciting lunch. There were some nerves, but overall it seemed that people were mainly happy to finally get a real test of their skills. Wagers were placed, and threats were issued. Sevs stayed out of it. Trying to eat his food in peace. A couple of people came up to offer their condolences. Sevs just smiled and thanked them. It was generally assumed that he would lose. His match was the only one there was no action on. However, despite the odds, Sevs hadn’t resigned himself to a loss yet. Father would never have let him give up without even trying.

No, Sevs spent his time on the end of the lunch table bench quietly planning. This would be hard. He didn’t know the setting or even the rules. Zim would know both. Zim also had much better marksmanship Sevs had just got the skill to level 3. Zim’s higher tier skills likely wouldn’t come into play much as they were more role than weapon specific. But they wouldn’t need to. The only advantage Sevs might have had was that Zim was still trying to teach. Just slaughtering him wouldn’t accomplish much. Unless… If the lesson was about how far they needed to go. If that was the case, he was screwed, but it was best not to think about it. Plan for the things he could do something about.

“Are you going to be okay?” Bexy slid into the bench right next to Sevs, leaning in close so she could speak softly next to his ear. Her concern was touching if unnecessary. It was just a training bout; he had lost and died for it more times than she could possibly know.

“I’ll be alright; I have a plan.” Sevs lied.