Darkness.
That's all the young man met, then a voice.
["You are being reincarnated into another world as the S-Rank Gunslinger Class! As apologies for an error on us, The Gods, for causing an incident in your world that resulted in your death on your commute home!"]
'W-wait… are you being for rea-'
…
For the grimacing Maurice, that burning memory burns the back of his mind, not only did the System trick him into thinking that the dream of being some lootin', shootin', tootin' cowboy who'd take names and flip skirts would become reality, but the fact that the class was entirely useless without a gun in this world was tantamount to a scam!
The Royal Academy of the United Empires was renowned for its Divinity-based Education & Evaluation of noble families, but that didn't matter, it was the fact that Top #1 ranking students could get a chance to speak with the Gods, the Heavenly spires. He wanted payback.
Maurice enjoyed a simple life of lax security, safety, and relatively no harm rising up to becoming a proper viscounty's son. Up until now…
…
The Alchemist's Garden is expansive, there was whole pathways and farms that were hidden away from the cold outsides of the academy that occurred year round, Maurice tramples a few indoor crops carelessly, as he splits up from Giono and Anthony, in pursuit of the nameless perpetrator.
It happened faster than he could anticipate as Trigger Fingers activated Its S-rank [Passive Perception] far too late to perceive the crackling sound of a lightbulb's internals being supercharged… and exploding.
Anthony, who was directly in-front of it face-first, tried to unleash his Lightning aura in response but… as the inner filament pops the internal structure creates a small localized pop and causes the glass to burst straight into the fellow Viscount's face.
Right now, in the drenched room Anthony's in, is a Giono supporting their fallen leader and trying to clear off of Anthony's face painful insertions of fluorescent glass bulb shards.
"Fucking Talentless Kid's causing more trouble for me than rising up safely to get my answers, SHOW YOURSELF, WORTHLESS SHIT!" Maurice makes one powerful blast of the big iron, flinching as the pain of the ringing bleeds out his own ears, and worse yet still cannot control how much it shakes the palms.
The smoke of the barrel touches the top of the Mega Garden's glass ceiling, and immediately the smoke sensors begin casting rain clouds within the garden to attempt to douse a non-existent flame.
"Heh, you think this is blackpowder shit? Nice try dumbass, but these are modern age bullets~ not like you could tell or whatevs cause you're up against a real hero! Huh?" Maurice realizes that there was now a slowly rising cold mist that surrounded him, blinding his vision, and comes to realize the true tactic of a smoke screen.
'Tsk, so this kid knows how to put up a fight? Big deal, I still got cheats in the bag like thermals~' as Maurice blinks, and sees someone's body heat slowly disappearing.
'W-what?! How the fuck-that's fucking cheating!' In his haste he shoots, but because the bullets tracer rounds, the glowing round hits the dirt. A missed shot.
'Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck! I thought this dumbass wasn't some tactical genius! Calm down, sit still, if I can't see him, he can't see me which means…'
A pot comes flying his way, and his Trigger Fingers cheat activates quickly to intercept the dirty pot, and the dirt goes splattering in several more directions. Maurice enjoys the high of being able to intercept something as dumb as a flower pot thrown his direction, before he starts noticing two more pots being thrown his way, and with bravado easily destroys them before either could reach into his view fully.
"Come on, loser! Is that all you got?!"
'Oh you sweet foolish Maurice, I already won.'
…
"Maurice Kabang, sole son of the Kabang viscounty, known for being a part of Le Trois Heroes, exceptional gunslinging skills capable of disarming, defeating and even ending battles on sight."
Gideon looks at Maurice, one of the cheat protag's compilation of his public academy information, findings, and even eyewitness accounts that were obtained from rumor and hearsay.
"Limited vision, and those trigger fingers are reactive on sight… the fact that he has a gun, which means I can create a smoke screen… nah, too expensive to obtain Bat guano and I can't just use every grown Nettle in the garden." Gideon then remembers orientation day, a question was asked by one of the young students.
"What would happen if a fire started here? Isn't the Mega Garden far too massive and for the Water Magicians to get here on time?"
"Excellent question! We've installed state of the art glyphs on top of the ceiling that begin to produce mist and rain to douse the ongoing flame, and because they're from our top magicians, even magical flames of S-rank and higher can be doused with ease!"
Gideon laughs to himself while taking cover behind a planter box, over six pots now tossed, and grabs onto a hefty bag of fertilizer.
A firm body, muscular and big but not overwhelming like most who exercise in Geomancy or constant warfare. It was just the right amount of bodily strength that made his only stat a D-rank. Not the peak of athleticism, but if this was the old world, he'd be considered an extreme athlete by comparison.
Gideon then grits a wicked simple upon his face, and then swings the fertilizer free as it launches at a ridiculous speed towards Maurice's silhouette.
The bag eats a bullet but contrary to the expectations of the poor fool, the bag doesn't explode but rather the mulch and compost that makes up the density of the fertilizer instead absorbs most of the bullet's impact and rips right out the other side, trailing some dirt along.
"Oh shit-" Maurice gets bodied by a bag of fertilizer, and reflexively just says out loud
"S-status! HP!"
Name: [Maurice Kabang]
Age: [14]
Class: [S-Rank Gunslinger]
HP: [89/90]
'Wait, are you for real then why the hell am I letting this fertilizer-' Maurice then feels a shovel slam into the fertilizer bag, and then again, and again.
-1 HP!
-1 HP!
-1 HP!
Maurice tries to reach for his gun, and then aims at the shadowy silhouette of Gideon.
"IT'S OVER, LOSER! I WIN!" Maurice attempts a point blank.
Click… Click… Click…
"Sh-shit…"
A shovel blow to the head hits Maurice.
-2 HP!
-2 HP!
-2 HP!
'Status…' Maurice repeats in his mind, it was a privilege to a Reincarnator to be able to show statuses mentally, but overtime he spoke Status as to blend in with the New World and not seem as if he can mentally see his well-being.
Thus this was rarely done, and at this moment, Maurice had to try something.
Name: [Maurice Kabang]
Age: [14]
Class: [S-Rank Gunslinger]
HP: [80/90]
"Fuckin' loser, your shovel's useless against a higher stat… so beat me all you want, I'll guh-GRAAAGGHHH!" The shovel bat the guns out of both of his hands, while the imposing man just stands atop of him.
HP: [78/90]
Maurice was borderline useless now, but tries to shake Gideon off but then the man simply grabs him by the throat and repeatedly hits Maurice in the face, the distinct feeling of some kind of steel pot repeatedly batters his face in, over and over again.
-1 HP!
-1 HP!
-1 HP!
-1 HP!
-1 HP!
["Warning! User is Stunned from taking too many hits, releasing ping towards closest SupportHero!"]
'What... what bullshit do you mean stu-' As the unfortunate man goes unconscious, bruises clogging his blood flow.
The sound of a beatdown and a struggling man fills out the air, and Giono who took a different search route travels for the sound of the beatdown.
HP: [1/90] [CRITICAL STATE!]
…
After a while, Gideon's victory comes, it took well over a minute to repeatedly adopt a different strategy. Beating him with fists most certainly worked.
'Fuck your high Dexterity stats preventing you from taking real damage even up close… you're useless if someone's got you in a choke hold to be beaten with a rock.' It was primitive, simple, and stupid.
If anyone else in the academy were to have seen it was in-fact possible to beat up strong class-wielders like this it'd send them to a panic, fortunately for him, that's exactly what just happened.
'...1 damage just means I've gotta hurt you multiple times in a row to deal a lot of damage… moron.' Gideon giggles, but he can hear the sound of someone rapidly approaching his location, it's the sound of someone's metallic body marching through the garden's plants, crushing branches and shelves.
He escapes fast, and towards the simulated waterfall. It was the iconic section of the garden, and what Gideon needed for the next step of his plan.