Luna raised the laser pistol and slowly exhaled as she took aim.

“That’s right,” the Enclave instructor said quietly. “Take your time, focus on just hitting the target for now. Speed and accuracy will come with practice.”

Replying would just throw off her concentration, so Luna didn’t bother. Instead, she just steadied her hands and lined the pistol’s sights. Three sharp cracks rang out one after the other.

“Not bad. Nice grouping,” the instructor congratulated Luna as she lowered the pistol.

Three bright red marks shone on the man-shaped target at the end of the range, just above and to the right of the breastbone. “Should I try and aim more to my right, or even for the head?” Luna asked, trying to ignore the shiver that ran down her spine at those words. She roughly shoved away the thought that someday soon it might not be inanimate targets she was shooting at.

The instructor shook his head. “There’s no need to worry about that sort of thing until you can hit the target consistently with a good grouping. Ninety nine percent of the time you’re better off getting two good hits to the center of mass than taking a risk on a headshot. Still, you’ve done well for your first time handling a gun. The live models have a tiny bit more recoil compared to these training lasers, but I’m sure you won’t have any issues when you progress to using them. For now, though, I think we’d best call it a day. Hand me the gun.”

Luna nodded and passed the training pistol to him, making sure to keep it pointing at the floor away from their feet as she did so. She followed along as the instructor went and locked the gun away, then signed a log book to say that she had returned it, but all the while a small thought was niggling at the back of her mind. “If you don’t mind my asking, why is everyone so eager for me to get firearms training?” The instructor gave her a curious look, so she quickly added, “Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate it, I’m just surprised that there weren’t any checks, or objections, or… I don’t know, something?”

“Beats me,” the instructor said simply. “You’re aligned with the Rainbooms, so I imagine that has something to do with it. All I know is that you’re cleared for training with all of our basic firearms, you’ve been granted access to the exercise yard, and you’re being added to the rosters for survival and tactical training.”

“Tactical training?” Luna noted with surprise. “Am I going to be trained as a soldier?”

The instructor raised an eyebrow at her. “I assume so, at least in the most basic sense. We’ve been told to cram as much practical knowledge into your head as possible, along with Miss Dusk and Miss Lulamoon too, if they agree to it.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, they’re just students,” Luna said firmly. “It’s awful enough that the Rainbooms had to go through this sort of thing, but Trixie especially is not used to dealing with real threats, magical or otherwise.”

“The three of you don’t have magic like the Rainbooms?” The instructor asked curiously.

As much as she wished otherwise, Luna only had one answer to give. “No. As far as we know, the Rainbooms are the only people in our world who have any magic. There’s a chance that there’s more out there, but if so, we haven’t found them yet.” She didn’t bother trying to explain about the Geode Diviner and its purpose.

The instructor frowned thoughtfully. “Why don’t you try asking the science people if you can have a look at some of the magic crystals we’ve been digging up from Raven Rock? You never know, you might be able to get yourself some magic using them, just like the ‘Booms.”

“Magic crystals?” Luna blinked dumbly. She had never even considered trying to get magic of her own. For a start, there had never been any indication that it was even possible, but if the Enclave had magic crystals, even if they were weaker than the Rainbooms’ Geodes, there was still a chance that it might work. “I think I’ll do that. Oh, on second thought.” Luna crossed her arms as a potential problem occurred to her. “It’s a good idea, but under no circumstances should we let Sonata know about those crystals.”

Next Chapter: Chapter 140 - Sonata's Resolve Estimated time remaining: 13 Hours, 9 Minutes