Chapter 78: Beginner’s Luck?

Julie finally pulled the trigger the moment she managed to read the hare’s movement.

[Bet? $10,000 says she misses!]

[Bro, you’re crazy! This poor guy keeps gambling!]

[What do you expect? She’s only a D-Rank Guide and still a student! Don’t expect her to shoot like a soldier!]

Then, almost immediately after that comment appeared, a new notification popped up on Julie’s terminal.

[You killed ×1 E-Rank Mutated Creature: 3,000 Credits]

The comment section exploded.

[Suck it up, you bastard!]

[WHO WAS THE ONE WHO BET $10,000?! PAY UP!]

[Beginner’s luck! That was definitely beginner’s luck!]

[You said she couldn’t shoot like a soldier, not that she couldn’t shoot at all!]

Julie stared at the notification for a few seconds, clearly stunned. "I... I got it?"

"You got it," Saddie said with a wide grin.

Julie slowly lowered the rifle and looked at the dead hare in the distance.

Her hands were still trembling, but this time, it was not because she was scared. She simply could not believe she had actually managed to kill a polluted creature by herself.

[BaronB sent ×2 Celestial Crown: 200,000 Credits]

[Holy shit, BaronB, are you trying to become some young girl’s patron now?!]

[You idiot! He probably sent that because Summer is doing such a good job teaching her!]

[Who’s going to believe that? I don’t trust men that much!]

[BaronB, explain yourself. Is that gift for Julie or Summer?!]

[Girl, they’re a team! Of course the gifts will be split between the three of them! Besides, it’s not like BaronB is Summer’s boyfriend!]

[Still, we need some explanation!]

The comment section quickly turned into an argument over BaronB’s gifts, but Summer did not even bother looking at it.

Instead, she gave Julie a few light pats on the shoulder. "That’s a good start," she said. "Let’s keep practicing."

Since it was breeding season, finding polluted creatures from the rooftop was not difficult at all.

At first, Julie was still full of doubt. Her hands would shake every time she was about to pull the trigger, and she always looked like she was afraid of making a mistake.

But after hitting her target again and again, that fear slowly started to fade.

Before long, Julie found herself waiting for the next target with growing excitement.

Every successful shot gave her a strange sense of satisfaction. It was the first time she had ever felt like maybe she really could do this.

The viewers seemed to notice the change in Julie too.

[Okay, I take back what I said earlier. She’s actually pretty good.]

[Pretty good? She just landed three shots in a row!]

Actually, Julie had already killed six E-Rank polluted creatures just by shooting from the rooftop.

[Someone check on the guy who bet $10,000 against her.]

[He disappeared from the chat LMAO]

Julie glanced at the comments for a moment and immediately looked embarrassed. "Are they really talking about me that much?"

Saddie leaned closer to her terminal and grinned. "Of course they are. You’re entertaining, and that’s a good thing!"

Julie still looked unsure, but she did not argue. Meanwhile, Summer was starting to get bored.

She had already yawned a few times, and after all the hard training she had gone through with Ilya, simply standing on a rooftop and watching from a distance was starting to feel too dull.

She wanted to fight something herself.

Summer looked down at the streets below, where several polluted creatures were still moving between the abandoned cars and broken buildings.

"Hey, why don’t we hunt them from the ground?" she suggested.

Saddie turned toward her, while Summer looked at Julie. "You can still shoot from a distance. Maybe you can hide behind a car or climb up a tree if you need a better view." She paused for a moment. "You can climb, right?"

"Yeah, I think so..." Julie replied.

After a short hesitation, she held the rifle out toward Summer because she assumed Summer wanted it back.

But Summer did not take it. Instead, she shook her head. "You can keep it until we leave the zone."

Julie blinked in surprise. She did not know the exact price of the rifle, but she could already tell that it probably cost an arm and a leg!

Still, Summer had offered to let her use it, and Julie did not want to waste the chance.

"Okay," she said at last.

The three of them climbed down from the rooftop soon after. Summer pulled out her blade, while Saddie checked her gun and made sure she still had enough plasma ammunition.

Since Julie had already killed several polluted creatures around the building, the others naturally started avoiding that area.

Because of that, they walked farther away until they spotted a group of mutated dogs near an abandoned restaurant.

According to the notification on their terminals, they were only F-Rank polluted creatures.

"There are six of them," Saddie said as she narrowed her eyes. "Want to split them half and half?"

Summer smiled. "Sure."

Then she turned toward Julie. "Stay here. If you see any other mutated creatures, you can shoot them from here. And if anything goes wrong, just scream as loud as you can."

Julie looked a little nervous. She did not really like the idea of being left alone, but Summer and Saddie would still be nearby. So she took a slow breath and forced herself to calm down.

"I understand," she said.

The comment section, however, had suddenly become interested in something completely different.

[Holy shit, why did I only just realize that Summer’s badge changed to SSS-Rank?!]

[Damn, bro, you’re right! I was too distracted by how pretty she looks today! Her face is basically glowing!]

[Is this because of that Recovery Glow Candy Ilya gave her?]

[Hey, hey, can we focus on the SSS-Rank part first?!]

[Wait, so she really became an Elite?!]

[SSS-RANK?! WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN?!]

[No wonder her uniform looks different!]

[That new uniform makes her look even hotter, though.]

[BaronB sent ×3 Celestial Crown: 300,000 Credits]

[Damn, even BaronB agrees with us!]