Hello I'm back, thy leg is healed but I don't have molars anymore.
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A few days after reconciling with Eula, on a bright and sunny weekend—
Back when they were on vacation, Shao Yun had promised to teach Clorinde, so when Clorinde had her day off, he kept his word and came to the reception hall of the Court District Waterway Hub.
It was the weekend, and the reception hall was packed with people. Many took advantage of the time off to leave Fontaine Court—some heading into the wilds for a bit of leisure, others going to the opera house to see if there were any performances worth watching.
Shao Yun, Lumine, and Paimon arrived early and stood among the crowd, waiting for Clorinde to show up.
Before long, Clorinde arrived at the agreed location.
She immediately spotted Shao Yun and the others standing ahead. Walking over briskly, she stopped in front of him, bowed slightly, and said, "I'm here, Master."
That sudden "Master" caught Shao Yun completely off guard. He nearly choked on his own saliva.
Coughing and flailing his hands in a fluster, he hurriedly explained, "Hey—don't call me that! No need for 'Master' or anything, just call me by my name!"
Clorinde nodded obediently, indicating that she understood.
Then she shifted her gaze to Lumine, who was wearing a gunslinger-style outfit beside Shao Yun, as well as Paimon floating nearby, and greeted them. "Hello, Lumine. Hello, Paimon. Are you here to study together today? Or are you helping Shao Yun teach me?"
Faced with Clorinde's question, Lumine smiled helplessly and replied, "There haven't been any commissions lately, so Shao Yun invited me along to join the fun. I'll practice my marksmanship with you—just keeping you company, really."
After understanding the situation, Clorinde asked with great seriousness, "Then may I ask—how should I address you right now? Should I call you Madam Master? Or perhaps Senior Sister would be more appropriate?"
Seeing Clorinde take things so seriously—and even use such formal titles—made Lumine extremely embarrassed.
She waved her hands in a slight panic and quickly said, "Ah—no need for that! Clorinde, just call me by my name!"
Even so, Clorinde maintained her solemn expression and replied earnestly, "Understood, Lumine. Then during our upcoming training, I hope you'll offer me your guidance."
Being looked at with the kind of reverence a junior shows to a senior only made Lumine feel even more uncomfortable.
She could only scratch the back of her head awkwardly and force a wry smile. "You don't have to be so stiff. Let's all relax a bit—you're making me feel embarrassed too."
Soon after, the group took a boat to Poisson. Although Poisson had long since lost its status as a shipping hub, that didn't mean there were no boats going there anymore.
After disembarking, everyone headed toward Clorinde's old home.
As soon as they arrived, Clorinde first went to check whether the Pneuma–Ousia energy tank behind her house had been properly replaced.
If it hadn't been, she would've had to file a complaint.
After checking, she let out a long sigh of relief and returned, saying, "The energy tank's already been replaced. I can boil some water and make tea—would you like a cup?"
Seeing that Clorinde was about to make tea for everyone, Shao Yun quickly waved his hand. "No need. Let's talk about it later—we're not thirsty right now."
Seeing this, Clorinde immediately switched into training mode.
She then asked, her expression serious and earnest, "Then… do I need to change into pants?"
Realizing that Clorinde had taken his old joke as gospel, Shao Yun could only clarify yet again, "No need to go that far. Please forget that joke as soon as possible."
...
After a brief bit of back-and-forth, Shao Yun's training session officially began.
Lumine and Clorinde stood straight in front of him.
Shao Yun swept his gaze over the two of them, then slowly raised his hands and began gently rotating his wrists, loosening them up as he spoke.
"Before we start proper training, let's all do some warm-up exercises first—get your wrist joints and surrounding muscles moving."
Clorinde treated the warm-up with absolute seriousness, focusing intently like a complete beginner, learning with a heart full of devotion.
As long as Shao Yun demonstrated a movement, she copied it perfectly, down to the smallest detail.
By contrast, Lumine was a bit more relaxed and casual—but she still completed the entire warm-up routine.
After finishing the exercises, Clorinde stood in place, awaiting further instructions.
Lumine, on the other hand, was much more lively. She raised her right hand high and cheerfully asked Shao Yun, "Instructor Shao Yun, are we shooting at stationary bottles again today?"
As she spoke, she deliberately emphasized the word "Instructor," dragging it out playfully.
Shao Yun wagged his finger, denying her guess.
"No, no, no—that kind of training is way too simple for you now. Since you're no longer complete beginners, I've prepared something a bit more challenging this time."
Hearing this, Clorinde couldn't help but frown slightly, a trace of nervousness passing through her.
In sharp contrast, Lumine showed no fear at all—instead, her face lit up with excitement.
"Really? What kind of high-difficulty training is it?"
At that moment, Shao Yun reached into the Legend of the East satchel at his waist and pulled out a bright red flying disc.
He shook the disc in his hand and announced, "Alright, answer revealed. I'll be throwing the disc, and your task is to shoot down these fast-moving targets in midair!"
Lumine stared wide-eyed at the ordinary flying disc in his hand and asked in confusion, "Huh? Shooting flying discs…? That's a new one—I've never seen training like this before."
Seeing her reaction, Shao Yun urged her on. "Alright then, Lumine—you go first. Get a feel for it and set an example for Clorinde."
As he spoke, Shao Yun gripped the red disc, took a deep breath, and hurled it forcefully into the air.
Lumine locked onto the rapidly spinning red disc and raised her gun.
A crisp gunshot rang out, and the bullet struck the flying disc dead center.
Unable to withstand the impact, the disc shattered explosively in midair.
Thanks to her past training at Guyun Stone Forest, Lumine didn't find this difficult at all—in fact, she found it rather boring.
"This feels kind of dull."
Hearing this, Shao Yun's eyes shifted slightly as he suddenly made a chilling suggestion.
"Oh? If you think it's boring, how about we have a duel instead? Let's see who can shoot the other's hat off first." He flashed a sly grin.
Lumine was startled badly by the proposal. She waved her hands frantically, shaking her head like a rattle drum. "No, no, no! Let's just keep shooting the discs—that's way too scary!"
As she spoke, she subconsciously took a few steps back to maintain a safe distance from Shao Yun.
She definitely didn't want the hat Shao Yun gave her to end up with a hole in it—like Mona's back then.
...
Lumine and Clorinde practiced shooting the flying discs for a while as Shao Yun observed their shooting forms.
After watching for some time, Shao Yun suddenly stopped throwing the discs and called out loudly, "Hold it for a moment!"
Hearing him, Lumine and Clorinde stopped and looked at him in confusion.
Shao Yun walked over to Clorinde first and said thoughtfully, "Clorinde, I've been carefully observing how you and Lumine shoot. Have you noticed any differences between the two of you?"
Clorinde frowned and thought hard, but couldn't recall anything specific. She shook her head and asked, "Um… what difference? I didn't really notice anything."
Shao Yun narrowed his eyes slightly and explained seriously, "Actually, Clorinde, overall your aiming and shooting technique is quite solid—there's almost nothing wrong with it."
"But if you want to improve further, I'd suggest you practice drawing and hip-fire more."
"Your speed when raising the gun to aim isn't as fast as Lumine's hip-fire. And yet, the accuracy of your aimed shots is about the same as her hip-fire accuracy… do you see what I mean?"
After hearing Shao Yun's analysis, Clorinde nodded slowly, half-understanding.
"Oh… is that so?"
With his reminder, she gained a preliminary awareness of her own shortcomings.
Shao Yun pulled another red flying disc from his backpack, gave it a light shake, and said to Clorinde, "Here—try what I just said. Don't aim. Just draw and hip-fire. See if you can hit this fast-moving target in one shot."
Clorinde took a deep breath, gripping her gun firmly with both hands. She leaned forward slightly, adopting a ready stance, her eyes locked onto the disc in Shao Yun's hand as she waited silently for the moment.
Shao Yun swung his arm, and the red disc shot forward at high speed.
At the same time, Clorinde followed his instructions—drawing her gun instantly and firing without any aiming.
However, things didn't go as she'd hoped.
Two gunshots rang out, but both bullets grazed past the disc, which continued flying unobstructed before landing far away.
Clorinde lowered her head in disappointment, glanced at the gun in her hands, then looked back up with a troubled expression and muttered to Shao Yun, "Um… are you really sure I can hit the target without aiming, just using hip-fire? It feels… really difficult."
Facing her doubts, Shao Yun said nothing and instead decided to demonstrate himself.
He turned toward the distance and once again hurled the disc into the air.
But surprisingly, he didn't draw his gun shortly after throwing it like he'd instructed Clorinde to do.
This unusual behavior left Clorinde baffled—and even Lumine, watching silently from the side, frowned slightly, wondering what Shao Yun was planning.
After all, from their perspective, if you wanted to hit the disc, you should shoot while it was still relatively close.
Yet now, as the disc flew over eighty meters away—reduced to little more than a red dot—Shao Yun still hadn't moved.
Just as the disc was about to hit the ground, a gunshot rang out.
Bang.
The disc was struck cleanly midair and shattered instantly, fragments scattering in all directions.
Witnessing the shocking sight, Clorinde's eyes widened involuntarily, her mouth parting slightly as she exclaimed, "Wow!"
Shao Yun, meanwhile, remained calm and composed. After spinning the gun in a flourish, he holstered it.
"I'm not showing off on purpose. This is simply the reality—I believe you can do it too, as long as you keep practicing."
"For you right now, the most important things are improving your draw speed for hip-fire, and your accuracy."
"As for everything else, there's not much that needs special training at the moment."
After hearing this, Clorinde nodded firmly in agreement. "You're right. I'll work twice as hard to practice."
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