Chapter 67: Rebuilding the Training Grounds, New Weapons
Early the next morning, sunlight streamed in through the airship’s windows.
Ryan woke up and, at a single glance, saw the graceful tangle of bare bodies beside him.
What lay before his eyes was something he could only dream of in his previous life.
Then again, that was only the first time.
Next time, even if the two of them begged for mercy again, there was no way he would let them off.
“Good morning, Master.”
Now that they were awake and their memories had returned, their faces immediately flushed red.
“Mr. Ryan...”
Isabella did not dare look at Ryan as she called out to him softly.
“Mhm. Just call me by my name. Nila should do the same as your sister.”
“Alright, Ryan.”
“Yes, Master.”
Ryan looked at the two women and nodded in satisfaction.
“Isabella, from here on, we need to make our preparations. I’ll help you take back control of your family. Alfred has already been driven out, so you are the one who should inherit the family.”
“Ryan, is it really just the four of us?”
Isabella sounded worried.
If there were only the four people on the airship, would they really be able to defeat Hermann and Otto?
“Do not worry. I already have a plan. Besides, if we’re helping you reclaim your family, we do not need too many people.”
“Alright. I understand.”
Isabella nodded at his words.
“Nila, starting today, you’ll be training alongside Nika as well.”
“Huh? I have to train too?”
Nila asked in surprise.
She had not expected to be given a task as well.
“That’s right. You need to strengthen yourself too. I’ll explain the details to you later. In any case, all three of you need to have at least a certain level of combat ability.”
“Uh... yes, Master.”
Although Nila was puzzled, she still chose to obey Ryan’s order.
That was right.
Ryan planned to train all of his women into gunfighters.
Whether or not they had magic talent, it did not stop them from using firearms.
Ryan decided that starting today, he would begin training all three women.
Sniper: Isabella.
Recon scouts: Nila and Nika.
Breacher: Ryan.
Because their team had so few members, he could only divide up their responsibilities in a simple way.
Ryan planned to train the three women according to that arrangement.
“We’ll begin training today. We’ll do our best to complete it within two months, and then we’ll go help Isabella take back the Jurgen Family.”
Ryan spoke solemnly.
“Two months...”
Isabella murmured under her breath.
In just two months, she would be able to return to her family.
To Isabella, that was an enormous temptation.
She trusted Ryan deeply.
At the thought that two months later she could reclaim her family and reunite with her mother, Isabella resolved to train with everything she had.
Nila said nothing, only looked at Ryan in confusion.
After all, neither she nor Isabella had any combat experience before.
Trying to train the two of them into qualified soldiers in just two months was no easy task.
And yet, hearing it from Ryan gave Nila an inexplicable sense of trust.
It was as though anything Ryan said would surely come true.
After the four of them finished breakfast, they stepped out of the airship.
They were immediately met by Fina, who had come looking for Ryan.
When Fina learned that Ryan was planning to help Isabella reclaim her family,
she gave Ryan a strange look.
From that one glance alone, Ryan understood that Fina already knew what he had done the night before.
Fina did not mind.
Instead, she spoke even more warmly with Isabella and Nila.
She wanted to help Isabella too.
“I want to go fight alongside you too, Ryan.”
Fina’s tone left no room for refusal.
“Fina, aren’t you supposed to be studying at the academy?”
Nika asked in confusion.
“It’s fine. The academy also has practical combat classes. Everyone has to become familiar with their own magic in real combat. The academy only requires students to meet the final assessment standards at the end of the term. It doesn’t closely interfere with how we study during the term.”
Fina explained.
“In that case, Fina will train with us too.”
Ryan’s role for Fina was mobile battlefield support.
Fina’s combat power was even greater than that of the other three women.
Not only was she proficient in marksmanship, she was also skilled in ice-attribute magic.
So Fina would be a tremendous help in raising the team’s overall combat strength.
Fina did not have any particular firearm she specialized in either.
So Ryan assigned her a mobile support role.
After that, Ryan had Fina find them a deserted place where they could practice their marksmanship.
Fina took Ryan straight to a forest on the outskirts of Lisbon.
After passing through the forest, the group arrived at an open clearing.
“Ryan, people normally don’t come here, so we can train as much as we want. There’s no need to worry about being disturbed.”
Fina pointed at the clearing before them.
Ryan looked around and found that it was perfectly suited to serve as a training ground.
As long as he made a few modifications, he could turn it into a training base.
It was only then that Ryan remembered something.
If he wanted to build his own power in the future, then a fixed, hidden training base would be absolutely necessary.
Still, it was too early to talk about that now.
If the opportunity arose later, he would definitely find a suitable place to serve as a training base.
Ryan shook his head, focused his attention on the clearing before him, and began to plan.
A moment later, Ryan had already worked out how the entire clearing would be used.
Right after that, he led the four women in transforming the place.
Both Fina and Isabella were Mages.
The simplest earth-attribute magic was something both of them could use.
The group spent a full three days transforming the clearing.
The first step was clearing the site.
The five of them used sickles to cut down the weeds, piled them along the edge of the clearing, and burned them. The ashes were later used as fertilizer for the soil.
Then they hauled the gravel to the edges and stacked it into a low wall one meter high, forming a simple boundary for the base.
The ground was rolled over again and again with a roller until it became flat and firm. A small amount of water was sprinkled during the rolling process to keep dust from rising.
At the center of the site, they built a rectangular firing platform.
Its surface was paved with bluestone slabs, with mortar filling the gaps between them. Wooden boards were set around the edges to prevent bullets from ricocheting beneath the platform.
Fifty meters north of the firing platform stood ten targets. The targets were made of wood and covered with thick burlap. Circular bullseyes were painted on the cloth, divided from the center outward into four rings: red, yellow, blue, and white.
At the base of each target was a metal stand with adjustable height. Ropes were attached to the backs, and the other ends were fixed to winches beside the firing platform. By turning the winches, the targets could be lowered or raised, making it easy to replace the target cloth.
On the west side of the firing platform, they built an ammunition depot, a small stone structure.
Its roof was covered with iron sheets, and its door was made of steel plate, secured with two copper locks.
Five meters outside the depot, they dug a shallow trench and filled it with sand to dispose of spent shell casings.
On the east side, they built a cover-training area using earth and timber, constructing five half-cover positions.
The fronts of the cover positions were made of thick wooden planks, while the backs and sides were piled with earth. Tree branches and weeds were spread over the tops for camouflage.
Passages ran between the cover positions, with wooden boards laid on the ground to keep the pathways from turning muddy in rainy weather.
Behind each cover position was a simple firing port, just large enough to rest a firearm on.
Along the outer edge of the base, wooden poles were planted every ten meters, each topped with a kerosene lamp. Glass covers shielded the lamps, and once lit at night, they illuminated the perimeter of the training ground.
Hemp ropes were strung between the poles, with red cloth strips tied to them as warning markers for the base, preventing unrelated people from wandering in by mistake.
Once the modifications were complete, the entire base had clearly defined functional zones. The firing area, ammunition storage area, and cover-training area were all separate from one another, ensuring both the safety of the training and greater efficiency.
After repeated trampling, the packed dirt grew even harder. The bluestone slabs of the firing platform, washed again and again with water, gradually had their sharp edges worn down, already bearing the marks of use.
Ryan looked at the training ground they had built with their own hands and felt deeply gratified.
Then he exchanged new weapons for the four women from the System.
Although the Desert Eagle had great power, in the end it was still just a handgun.
It was fine for ordinary use.
But when facing large numbers of enemies, they still needed rifles.
The new gun Ryan had prepared for himself was an M4A1 assault rifle.
Among all assault rifles, this one ranked near the top in terms of usage.
It had excellent firing stability, tremendous versatility, high lethality, and extremely convenient handling.
Those advantages were exactly why Ryan chose it.
Next were the two sisters, Nika and Nila.
Ryan prepared MP5SD submachine guns for the two of them, fitted with suppressors.
This lightweight submachine gun could not eliminate gunfire completely, but at a certain distance, it could make the sound effectively disappear.
And in addition, Ryan equipped the two of them with a pair of Beretta 21A Bobcat concealed pistols.
These two handguns were also fitted with suppressors.
That way, the sisters’ movements could minimize sound as much as possible and achieve covert reconnaissance.
Next came Isabella.
Isabella’s role was that of a sniper.
So the weapon Ryan exchanged for her was an AWM sniper rifle.
This rifle suited Isabella extremely well.
Ryan could exchange the Magnum rounds used specifically for sniper rifles through the System.
Ryan had Isabella begin her practice at one hundred meters.
Once she could hit the target every single time, she would gradually begin increasing the distance.
According to Ryan’s standards,
Isabella had to reach the point where she could hit without fail within one thousand meters before she could be considered a qualified sniper.
Fina’s weapon was not changed.
After all, Fina still relied primarily on magic in combat and only secondarily on firearms.
Ryan simply replenished a large amount of ammunition for her.
The ammunition Fina had used before was now restored.
That settled everyone’s equipment.
What followed was the training plan Ryan drew up for them all.
Following Ryan’s training plan, the women began training step by step.
Isabella wanted to see her mother as soon as possible, while Nila and Nika also wanted to grow stronger and be of help to Ryan.
So the three women trained with exceptional diligence.
What should have been a full day’s training, the three of them compressed into just six hours.
Ryan looked forward to the day their training would be complete.