Wood: You Actually Doubt My Firing Skills!

A tall, perfectly developed Beautiful Girl now expressed a desire to watch you fire a cannon—what would you choose to do?

Wood silently shoved a pitch-black shell into the cannon barrel, casually reaching up to adjust the cannon's angle.

Other matters he could let slide, but being doubted by a girl on his cannon-firing skills? How the hell could he take that lying down?

"I won't argue with you about other things, but you might not know this—when it comes to firing cannons, back where I'm from, I'm the famous King of Cannons! The shells I fire aren't just powerful with long range—they can also be precision-guided."

Watching Wood operate with such confident flair, Gion couldn't help but show a hint of surprise, wondering if Wood might actually be a true professional.

"Boom------!"

As the cannon barrel spat sparks once more, the black shell arced through the air before slamming into the ground, erupting in light and heat while leaving a modest crater in the earth.

"Pfft! So this is the King of Cannons' skill? Looks pretty average to me."

The little flag on the dirt mound still stubbornly fluttered in the wind, as if mocking the two of them. Seeing where the shell had landed, Gion, who had been wearing a serious expression, suddenly burst out laughing.

Wood had talked such a big game that she'd actually thought he was a real expert.

But this one shot missed the marked spot by a mile—it wasn't even any better than her own previous results!

"What are you laughing at? Sure, I didn't hit the mark either, but it's only off by about thirty meters. My first shot here is already better than your score after more than twenty practice rounds—isn't that impressive enough?"

His cannon-firing skills drawing a girl's mockery, even someone as thick-skinned as Wood felt his face heat up.

Without another word, Wood silently loaded another shell, ready to fire off a few more while the iron was hot.

This wasn't about the test score—it was about his dignity as a man. Wood felt he had to prove that his title as King of Cannons wasn't just for show!

But just as Wood was about to continue, Gion stopped him. It wasn't that she didn't want him to prove himself—they simply didn't have enough ammunition left.

The test only counted three effective shots, but unlike rifle shooting, cannon tests had something called "calibration shots."

Before each shot, every group had two chances to "calibrate," then the best of three shots counted as the score.

The effective score only needed three shots, but the shells required for the test totaled nine.

Of course, if someone was confident enough, they could skip calibration and just fire three shots straight for the score.

But Gion figured that with her and Wood's skill level, skipping calibration would be a guaranteed disaster.

Each group had forty shells allocated. Gion had just fired thirty herself, Wood had fired one, so they were left with exactly the minimum of nine shells...

"I protest! This isn't fair! You fired thirty shots before, and now I've only fired one and you won't let me continue!" Wood argued.

"Like I said, the test needs at least nine shells. Your aim is so terrible, more practice is just wasting ammunition," Gion retorted righteously.

"You've got nerve calling my aim terrible... You're the one who wasted most of the shells. Look at this pockmarked ground—are you planning to plant trees or landscape it?"

The Captain Instructor had been observing this pair from the start.

At first, the two loaded and fired in perfect sync—both in speed and coordination, they were far better than the other groups. The instructor even thought they might make a good team.

But watching their subsequent performance, the Captain Instructor was speechless. Whether it was Gion or Wood, both had absolutely terrible cannon skills.

At a range of two hundred meters, their shots deviated by over twenty meters. For other groups, even their first calibration shot hit that standard.

Especially Gion—her cannon skills were appalling. After thirty calibration shots, she still managed to miss by over thirty meters.

And yet she was smug about it, thinking she had potential. If they tried to train her as a professional artillery crew, the entire Marine Headquarters' ammunition stock wouldn't be enough for her practice!

After some practice time, the test began as scheduled.

The cannon test evaluated not just accuracy, but also loading speed and team coordination, all factored into the score.

"Can you even do this? We only have six shells left, and just one calibration shot each. If you're not confident, let me take over—I think I was just starting to get the feel for it."

That's right, Wood and Gion had failed to keep the minimum nine shells. Under Wood's strong protest, he'd fired three more.

And during the test, after some hesitation, Gion decided to let Wood be the gunner while she handled loading.

"Letting you go ahead is fine with me—I don't really care about the test score anyway. But are you sure you've got this? Even my terrible aim should be better than someone's, right?"

Hearing Wood's words, Gion's face showed clear displeasure, but she couldn't find a way to refute him.

People always have to try, or they'll never know what true despair means—that phrase described Gion's cannon skills perfectly.

"Uru, Yak, nine shots complete. Best results: two shots ten meters from target, one direct hit. Loading speed: below average. Coordination: below average. Effective score: above average. Overall score: above average."

"Next group: recruits Wood and Gion, step forward for cannon test."

The group ahead of them finished, and it was Wood and Gion's turn. The instructor, who had been watching them, already knew what had happened, so he didn't dwell on them using only six shells—just told them to hurry up.

The shells weren't light—each one was a heavy lead ball. Loading speed directly correlated to firepower, so it was included in the scoring.

Though Gion was female, her physique was clearly far superior to the average Marine, earning them the highest rating for loading speed.

As for coordination, to their surprise, they received an above-average rating.

For the final cannon results, six shots were fired, with the best three counted. Only one shot landed ten meters from the mark; the other two were about twenty meters off, earning a below-average rating.

Their overall score was below average. While their loading speed and coordination were flawless, accuracy carried the most weight in the final evaluation.