Chapter 30: Armed and Ready

Summer took a deep breath because it seemed like Ilya had completely switched into instructor mode now.

The friendly man who had been joking with her inside the helicopter? Gone.

Well, he was still smiling, but somehow that made him feel even more like an instructor.

Still, Summer couldn’t really argue with what he said because making mistakes was indeed part of learning.

She just hoped none of those mistakes ended with her getting eaten.

A few minutes later, a faint buzzing sound came from above.

Bzzzzzz.

Summer raised her head just in time to see two delivery drones flying toward them. Each drone carried a wooden box underneath it.

Once they reached her location, the drones slowed down and released the boxes.

THUD!

THUD!

Both boxes landed right in front of Summer.

"How practical," Summer murmured.

There was no delivery fee, no waiting for days, and no delivery man calling her because he couldn’t find her address.

Perfect.

Without wasting any time, Summer crouched down and opened the first box.

The Carbon Energy Blade was lying neatly inside, and Summer immediately picked it up.

"Oh?"

It was surprisingly light, even much lighter than she had expected. She gave it a few swings before casually tossing it into the air and catching it again.

The blade barely put any strain on her wrist. For someone who still didn’t have much physical strength, that was definitely good news.

At least she wouldn’t get tired just from carrying the thing around.

"Check the other one," Ilya said, tilting his head toward the second box.

Summer immediately moved over and opened it. The moment the lid came off, a long black plasma rifle appeared in front of her.

Compared to Archer’s Poison Gun, this weapon was much bigger.

It had a long, narrow barrel, with thin blue energy lines glowing along both sides. A small digital scope sat on top, while the stock was made from some kind of light material that felt surprisingly comfortable against her shoulder.

Summer carefully lifted it out of the box. "Oh, this one is kinda heavy."

Summer held it properly and looked through the scope. The moment her eye moved close enough, the screen automatically turned on.

[User Detected.]

[Target Tracking: Standby.]

[Recoil Compensator: Default — 40%]

"The recoil compensator can be adjusted," Ilya suddenly said.

Summer immediately lowered the rifle. "It can?"

Ilya nodded. "Yes."

She looked down at the weapon, then turned it slightly. She checked near the trigger, then the scope.

Where the hell was the setting?

Ilya silently watched her struggle for several seconds before finally chuckling softly. "May I?"

Well. When your instructor offered to help, there was only one correct answer. "Yes, please."

Summer handed him the rifle, and the moment Ilya took it, his fingers moved easily across the small control panel near the scope.

A transparent screen appeared above the rifle.

[Recoil Compensation Settings]

[Current: 40%]

Ilya didn’t immediately change it. Instead, he opened his terminal, and Summer noticed several numbers appearing on the screen beside her name.

"What are you looking at?" Summer asked.

"Your first-stage physical evaluation from Dr. Rinko," Ilya said.

It only contained her weight, muscle mass, and grip strength.

The results weren’t that great, but fortunately, they didn’t rely only on that data to determine the result of her physical evaluation.

Meanwhile, Ilya compared the information on his terminal with the rifle settings before adjusting several numbers.

[Recoil Compensation: 40% → 82%]

[User Profile Saved: Summer Beaumont]

"There you go," Ilya said as he handed the rifle back to Summer.

Summer took the rifle, but she was still staring at the number in confusion. "Why eighty-two?"

No, honestly, she knew why. She just couldn’t accept that her current body was so weak that it felt like Ilya had set the weapon to child-safe mode.

"Based on your current muscle mass, that should be comfortable enough without completely removing the recoil," Ilya explained. "Don’t think too much about the number. Even if you set it to 100%, the firing power won’t decrease."

It might not decrease, but Summer would definitely become spoiled if she relied too much on the recoil compensator for a long time.

"This number is fine for now," Summer said. "I can work with it."

"Good," Ilya said. "We will go to the polluted zone in fifteen minutes. Prepare yourself."

Summer didn’t waste any of the little time she had left. When preparing to enter a dangerous place, the most important thing wasn’t only weapons, but also food.

Unfortunately, carrying several days’ worth of meals would be far too troublesome. That was why scientists had created energy bars and nutrient pills in the first place.

One small bar could replace an entire meal, while a single nutrient pill could provide enough vitamins and minerals to keep a person functioning for hours.

Was it delicious? Absolutely not.

Was it useful? Very.

Summer stood in front of one of the supply machines and stared at the rows of packaged energy bars behind the glass.

There were several flavors, like chocolate, berry, and even meat. But as someone whose sense of taste was no longer dead, Summer preferred to eat something that at least sounded safe.

She ended up taking a lot of chocolate, berry, and coffee-flavored energy bars instead.

She also grabbed several nutrient pills and a few compact water packs before stuffing everything into a small tactical bag.

The bag itself was surprisingly light, even after all the supplies had been placed inside.

After checking the contents one more time, Summer zipped the bag shut and slung it over her shoulder.

"Are you done?" Ilya asked.

He was standing a few meters away, fully prepared. Unlike before, when he had looked more like a friendly instructor, now he looked completely different.

His combat jacket was zipped up, several weapons were attached to his belt, and the metal parts of his arms gave off a faint light.

Summer’s eyes immediately moved toward them.

She had already noticed that both of his arms were artificial, but seeing them like this made it much more obvious.

Thin lines of golden light ran across the metal surface like glowing veins. For some reason, they looked much more dangerous now and much cooler.

Summer stared for a few seconds before finally answering him. "Yes, I’m done."

Ilya gave a small nod. "Good." He looked toward the exit. "Now we’re ready to go to the polluted zone."