I appraise the bullet in my fingers. Squinting moves it closer, then farther to my eyes. Then feeling the bullet in my hands. The percussive cap, the bullet casing and head. It felt real. There is however one problem.

  “Is this 10 milimeters?” I present the bullet to Senior Sister Zhaoxia

  Due to my altered memories, I don’t know for sure if the bullet is the right size as my memories are now altered to fit my current body. More importantly, I have no tools for accurate measurement. She tilts her head, wondering why I am so worked up for such a little thing. She picked the bullet from my fingers, appraising it before returning it to me.

  “The diameter, right? Hmmm. looks like one Cun?” Zhaoxia answers (Cun is chinese inch, roughly 3.3 cm, so the bullet is 33 mm)

  “And one cun is?” I ask in bewilderment

  “About one tenth of a Chi.” She answers the matter of factly again (Chi is chinese foot. About the same as usual imperial measurement of 33 cm)

  I immediately rub my temple. What am I even expecting? So fuck this shit. Let’s go full retard like the British. From this point on, I will measure stuff in hands and feet. Whose hands and feet? My hands and feet! I don’t care if it will not be accurate but until I can measure things correctly I will riot!

  “What’s all the fuss? Smaller than your thing at least.” Came the uninvited voice of Elder Tianjiao

  I looked away from the bullet, seeing the larger one in the inside room of the Training Hall. The room is a bright box of who knows how long and how high with no apparent source of lighting. Only then did I look at Baldy Tianjiao.

  “Must you also be here?” I ask before the Senior Sister immediately elbows my liver and shakes her head.

  The force of the elbow is enough to knock all the air in my lungs as I stagger and fall to the floor. Oh yes, it's impolite.

  “I’m also the elder of Training Hall. Have any problem with that?” Tianjiao answers

  “Of course not, elder. My junior brother is just silly and needs discipline.” Zhaoxia bowed in apology

  “I know. And you will do a very good job at it.” I don’t know why but Tianjiao’s word sounds very ominous

  Standing up, I immediately project the classic old 1911. Feeling the gun fit perfectly in my hands just like when I try it out at the shooting range. Then I point at what the two call measurement stone and fire.

  BANG!

  Hmmm. I looked at the gun in my hand again. Something’s not right. This pistol shouldn’t release the sound of an autocannon firing. Ah fuck it, then I dump the entire mag towards the stone. With each shot landing on the stone, numbers rise but then reset before finally revealing the number of around 734 thousand of Jin. Now what is a Jin? How does it convert the firepower into that number? I have no idea. (One Jin is approximately half a kilogram or around 1 pound. This is my effort in converting the firepower of a small autocannon to Jin. Might be accurate, might be not. I have no idea)

  “Not bad. But the stone somehow does not measure the entire thing. So it should be much higher. Enough for cultivators of your level.” Tianjiao comments on the side

  “You said this weapon is available for normal people?” Zhaoxia asks after rubbing her ears

  “Yes, every civilian can buy this thing. Oh, and sorry. Forgot to tell you to close your ears. Is that good?” I ask in concern

  “Well, this measurement stone is usually only used for testing outer disciples. For example,” Zhaoxia reaches the stone in one leap. Then deliver a casual punch. The number immediately jumps to 24 million Jin. “Your numbers are good enough for Early Foundation Establishment and this is mine as Golden Core.”

  I close my jaw. Alright, first thing first. Do not be hit by Senior Sister Zhaoxia. Second, 1911 has 8 rounds if counting the one in the chamber, so 8 times 734 thousand is shy of seven million. While her casual punch is triple that. There’s a subset of men who would love her for this fact no doubt.

  “So,” Zhaoxia cracks her knuckles, “Are you ready?”

  “NO!” I shouted for my dear life. “Can I test things first?”

  “Sure. Five incense sticks.” Tianjiao already prepared the stuff

  Goddammit save those incense sticks away Baldy! I’m going to die here. Or maybe it's for my funeral. With nothing else to do, I just try other guns. Other classics like Kalashnikov, Magnum revolver, 50 caliber. The first results in around 400 thousand, the second results in just above 1 million, and the last results in 3 and half million Jin. Even magdumping the AK only resulted in half of Senior Sister’s punch. Each try made me even more flustered, if I can still sweat my clothes would be soaking wet as the incense sticks burned while I kept trying. Breathe in, breathe out. I’m not going to die. Surely. Breathe in, breathe out. Ok ok, I am in a stage lower than her. Dunno how much Qualitative the increase in power is, but I am very much in doubt that a punch in my current self will even touch a hundred thousand. So this is fine. This is fine. I rationalize myself.

  “Time’s up.”

  “WAIT!” I screamed in panic, hands gripping my mane

  Only to see I still have one full incense stick and the baldy grinning. Motherfucker!

  “Are all of those available to the common people?” Zhaoxia now asks with genuine concern

  “Yes. Including this one.” I project a minigun. Beltfed, then fired for an entire minute like I always wanted. Only then did I feel a drain on my Qi. hmmm, this Celestial Projection seems perfectly suitable for me. If my Qi only felt drained after three thousand bullets per minute, it means that this spell is very efficient. That or I have a larger than usual Qi pool or maybe other arts are inefficient but much more powerful. I have no method to verify this at the moment though.

  “That seems unwise.” She concludes

  “Well, the best method to keep tyranny at bay is an entire population that can shoot as hard. But not anymore. These things are now available to civilians while the military has already shifted to better ones. For example.” I then project a Railgun pistol

  For this, I am almost fully improvising. Never had one in my hand, but how the internal mechanism works is publicly available with the exception of the power source. Appraising the pistol, I made the barrel only as long as my hand. Shouldn’t be too long. As for the bullet, it's certainly the not 10mm round. Then I take aim. Licking my bone jaw over and over in anticipation. Heart beat rising. This is an impossible thing back home. Then I pulled the trigger.

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  BOOM!

  The sound is instant and deafening. The gun flies out of my hand from the sheer recoil. My breathing stopped from the sheer joy and shock. On the measurement stone, there is finally a crack from the entire force concentrated in one single spot. Numbers showing 22 million Jin. Ola. My precious! Then I assess things as my ears are still ringing and can’t hear anything else. This time, I felt a clear drain on my Qi. Around three times of firing miniguns for a minute. Now why does this happen? Do projections become more efficient if I know all the parts and the railgun takes more because I don’t know the source of power so my Qi compensates? Possibly. It took approximately one to two percent of my entire Qi for one fire. So I can theoretically fire this thing approximately fifty times. So now, let’s measure my Qi ergonomics in bullets. Do I want to shoot it again? Absolutely. Again!

  “Well, looks like my junior is full of surprises. And look, time's up.” Senior Sister Zhaoxia said in a tone too jovial for my comfort

  She’s already in clothes much better suited for combat. Gone is the outer robe. Now with just short sleeved clothes with a short skirt. Again, she cracked her knuckles.

  “Will saying no will change things?”

  “Danxing, women like men who have more backbone. And no.” She lecture me

  “I think you will break it. Besides, I don’t think I will be popular much.” I project a 1911 again, still hesitant on firing at a person

  “I think you might be surprised. So, are you ready?”

  Did she just imply the existence of furry or monster fuckers? Then I hear the sound of wood. Baldy Tianjiao pulls out an entire box worth of snacks, pouring tea, someone’s come prepared to enjoy me getting beat up.

  “Um, sure.”

  Immediately Zhaoxia charges towards me. Taking aim, I immediately fire the entire mag. Only to see the bullets bouncing off her body. Then she leapt, and with a swift forward flip, allowing me to see everything below her skirt. God Bless America. Then all is black as her foot slams my head.

  Then in the darkness, I see a tunnel of light. Eagerly, I go there. Only to be physically stopped by something made of light.

  “Not yet, son.” Then the voice throws me back

  “EGADS!” I woke up, somehow with a very clear mind

  What the hell was that? How am I here again? I rub my head, trying to find cracks but found none.

  “Don’t worry, I healed everything.” Zhaoxia said beside me

  “Alright, that’s a wrap, let’s go home.” I swiftly stand up and goes towards the entrance

  “No.” Her voice immediately froze my steps

  “What do you mean no?”

  “We are not leaving this room until you give as much as a scratch on me.” Then Baldy Tianjiao laughs

  Hmmm… fuck…

  —

  3rd attempt

  Two magnum revolvers in my hand. Firing at Zhaoxia while I run as fast as I can to the side. The bullets bouncing off. She appears at my side, delivers a horizontal kick. I felt the crack on my ribs as I was thrown to the edge of the training room.

  7th attempt

  “AAAAAAAAAA!!” I roared as I fired a minigun towards her. A CIWS system on my left and right is also firing. All it makes are fireworks of thousands of tracer rounds bouncing off harmlessly. The only thing getting damaged are her clothes and nothing else. The views are amazing. Then she arrived and knocked me out in one punch again.

  8th attempt

  I give up holding back and start using a railgun. This time however, she evaded the shot. Dodging to the side before pivoting and immediately closing the distance. Another kick to the face. One more time my entire head cracked. One more time I was sent.

  10th attempt

  Trying some creative means. I project multiple railguns. A dozen of them are floating around me including miniguns to distract her attention. All firing at once like a certain heroic spirit from an old Japanese gacha game. But still she managed to evade multiple shots and knocked me out once more.

  After the 12th attempt

  “Hmmm.” I hummed loudly as Senior Sister Zhaoxia dragged my body by the foot. Letting me see the white ceiling as I think. Again, there’s a subset of men that would enjoy this kind of thing. Unfortunately I am not counted as one of them.

  “Have all my attempts improved so far?” I ask in genuine question

  “Well yes. That weapon,

  “The railgun?” I raise my head as she still drags me

  “Yes, it could potentially hurt me. But not that much. I practice body tempering and so my body is sturdier than other cultivators of my level. Also, it takes too long to fire and is also very predictable. Your weapons can perform well against cultivators equal to your level, but so far, all of them are… plain and uninspired. Once a cultivator is used to it, it wouldn’t be too effective.” She lectures me on my shortcomings

  So the charge up huh? Technically the railguns fire after a second charge up and she can still account for that? Hmmm. Can I skip the charge up entirely when projecting? So it fires as soon as it appears? One way to find out.

  “One more thing. Why don’t you attempt to protect yourself?” She asks in genuine bewilderment as she drop my foot, already dragged me to the center of the room again

  “What do you mean? I don’t know how to? The spell to project my weapons is the only one I get from the library.”

  “What!? Elder, is this true?” She then asks Baldy in disbelief

  “No! Don’t slander me. I give him two books.” He defends himself after slowing down some snack I don’t know the name of

  “Both don't give any protective spell though.” I correct him

  “That is an issue of your skill.”

  Did he just insult me with a skill issue? That’s it. I’m going to win this shit! As for defending myself, can the Celestial Projection do the same? To test this, I project a 1911 as I stand. Then I point it at my hand. Then I try to project some sort of barrier between my hand and the gun and I fire. The bullet bounces off.

  “Oh it really can do this. I’m just dumb then.”

  Now energy shield technology is also a purely military technology. So basically I just tank the shot entirely with my Qi which is incredibly inefficient as it takes roughly two railgun bullets worth of Qi to project just to tank a normal bullet.

  “I think we can continue.”

  13th attempt

  I do nothing but try to tank Zhaoxia’s punch with my barrier. The result is as expected. Her fist punched cleanly through to my stomach, sending me crashing back to the wall. But it did mitigate some of the force, as this time I am still awake. The pain though…

  “FUCKING FUck! AAAAaaaaaa…” Fortunately she quickly came and heals me

  After the pain subsided, I found that that one barrier cost me half my entire Qi. I need to improvise this.

  15th attempt

  Like previous attempt, I still fully commit to improvising my barrier. This time, not making the barrier thicker but making five stacks of spaced shields. The result is the same, taking more than half my entire Qi and mitigating most of the damage as I can immediately stand after being sent back to the wall.

  17th attempt

  I tried to mimic the popular video game mechanic of perfect parry. It didn't work and broke my arm.

  19th attempt

  I stand still. Arms folded as I’m deep in thought. What if rather than making it thicker and mimicking some mechanics, I try to change the shield based on concepts instead. For example, the difference in soul strength? Zhaoxia appears on my side again and she kicks.

  TWANG!!

  The ugly and loud sound of unstoppable force meets an immovable object fills the room. The immovable object holds, much to Zhaoxia’s astonishment. But another punch immediately shattered it and the third landed on my face. I woke up soon after, knowing for sure that I can win this.

  21th attempt

  So applying concepts on the barrier works. But why does the perfect parry fail though? Is it because it's more arbitrary or because it's an incomplete concept? I can definitely win this round. But fifty percent of my entire Qi for one punch? It needs to be better. What other concepts do I have? Zhaoxia appears and delivers a punch. Think me! Think! Of all the fictions and stories that I have read? Is there anything better!? Then I snapped my finger as I found it. A.T. Field from that ancient movie in my grandfather’s SSD. Like how two biological things do not merge with a touch, A.T. Field binds the ego and sense of self of an individual from everyone else.

  The second hit landed. This time, only taking around 2 railgun bullets worth of Qi. Then I project a railgun, above her head pointing down. Already charged and primed. Immediately firing as soon as the projection appears. Everything slowed down as I watched in horror, that the bullet hit the back of her head and still deflected. Then with a backflip, she kicked my chin, and all turned black.

  —

  Danxing head slammed the roof of the training room, then fell down unconscious. Zhaoxia staggers but Elder Tianjiao appears on her side and helps her stand. Blood trickling from where the shot landed. If Zhaoxia is not a body tempering cultivator, then perhaps she could have died. He helped her to a sitting position as she heals herself while he inspects the unconscious Danxing. A Xuan is a Xuan after all. His weapons and the pseudo trance when he tries to improve his protective spell. Pity he did not have a complete body, if he is able to cultivate normally then he might be as monstrous as his adoptive father. Danxing here will fit in just right.

  Chapters might be slowing down again, but I will try to keep up the 2 chapters per week