The basic premise for Hajin's argument about guns being weaker than other equipment was that it was a newer development so it would always lose out to other weapons with a longer history...
But if you thought about it, guns went back to the 1200s if you followed China's history. There were DEFINITELY hand cannons that existed from back then.
But the main weapon that Hajin ended up using was...
'What was it? Napoleon's rifle or something?'
At least, that was the one that Lee could remember from what he read.
Nayun laughed and said, "Don't make too much fun of him, Yeonha." She puffed her chest out and said, "Not everyone's cut out to be an archer like me."
Rachel tilted her head and said, "Is being an archer that special? You just stand in the back and fire."
Nayun immediately bristled and said, "Aren't you the future leader of the Kingdom of Britain? Isn't your country KNOWN for longbows?!"
Rachel nodded. "We are. And that's why I'm curious why you think it's special. Against humans, it is undeniably effective. But against monsters who can dodge quite easily and close distance, it's a liability."
"You-!"
Huh.
Were Rachel and Nayun like this in the book?
No, it was probably Lee's influence, now that he thought about it. Although Rachel hadn't said anything explicit... Lee was aware that she had a crush of sorts on him.
'This is probably... jealousy? Huh. A jealous Rachel.'
That was an interesting thought...
But it was bad for team dynamics. So...
"A bow can be used up close too, Rachel."
Rachel paused.
Nayun froze. "...What?"
"Hm?" Lee tilted his head. "...Do you not know about point shooting?"
Yeonha looked at Lee and said, "Point shooting? And what is that, Lee?"
"Mm... you can also call it instinctive shooting, I guess? The Comanche used something similar." Lee held up his hand roughly how he would hold a bow and said, "You draw four arrows at a time, one in each finger, and hold it up like this. Then you rapidfire by dropping each into the bowstring, allowing you to roughly fire at the same rate of a six pistol. That's why the Comanche were feared up until the revolver was developed in America, you know?"
Silence.
Lee paused to think and said, "You know, with how athletic you are, Nayun, you could also probably combine this with acrobatics? Shooting from a flip, evasion, and the like would allow you to resolve your issues pretty easily- Why are you all looking at me like that?"
Nayun slammed her hand on the table and said, "Lee! You! Teach me! NOW!"
"O-Okay?"
===
The shooting range east of the dorms.
After Lee gave a rough explanation of the concept to Nayun, she was instantly inspired and dragged him over to teach her properly.
Needless to say, Rachel followed. And then Yeonha did as well out of curiosity.
And before he realized it, Lee found himself standing in the range with a bow in his hands and a quiver of arrows.
Nayun crossed her arms and said, "There! Show me properly then, Mister Archery know-it-all!"
Yeonha stood off to the side, looking at her smartwatch and replaying some videos. "...Lee IS correct. There were records of that form of archery existing in America. But after Outfall, archery devolved to the more prevalent styles at the time... which was functionally just Olympic archery and traditional Eastern archery."
Rachel pursed her lips and said in English, "Lee. You realize that you do not need to humor her, right?"
Lee laughed and responded in English. "It's fine. This is good practice too."
While he didn't use a bow... one way to use a spear WAS to throw it.
And he was curious about his Gift <Lightning Thrust>.
Although it SAID that he had to thrust with his whole body...
'Maybe I don't?'
The core mechanism of that Gift appeared to be wreathing the body to channel all the force in a singular direction. It was more like aligning force vectors to a blinding speed through amplifying kinetic chains.
So...
"Now, Nayun." Lee spoke up in Korean after grabbing a handful of arrows, holding each between his fingers. "You're going to need to modify your grip on the bow, obviously. This is actually simulating a revolver kind of, so you need to tilt the bow up. The draw is actually pulling the bow forward instead of pulling the string back. So it should look something like... this."
Intense focus. Trusting in his body's senses and the training he had done...
Although dropping the arrows into the drawstring was unfamiliar, and though he missed a couple, Lee still managed to fire a few. And so...
*thud thud thud*
...Three arrows fired off in close range at target 10 meters. One at where a heart, eye, and lung would be on a person.
Nayun's bow clattered to the ground, her eyes wide in shock.
Yeonha's eyes widened as well. "That... No, that makes sense. Treating the bow like a hammer and the hand like a chamber..."
Rachel looked thoughtful and said, "...That would not work for a longbow."
"Well." Lee shook his right hand, feeling slight strain from the unfamiliar motion. "It depends. The concept is a concept. You'd have to fiddle with how you hold the bow... but if you're strong enough, you could probably at least partially fire it like this. Also, this is just hypothetical, but you could probably make up for the drawforce deficit by using magic power. If you refine it enough... Mm. Let me try something."
Lee picked up the bow again and notched a single arrow. This time, as he drew it back, he delicately wreathed it with the tiny droplet of mana he could control. "I don't have enough magic power to do it properly, but..."
He fired.
A sound like a sword slicing the air.
The arrow flew forward without any drop, completely unaffected by gravity. And when it struck the target, instead of getting stuck inside, it pierced straight through.
"...You should be able to do something like this."
The faint drop of mana, invisible to all but Lee's eyes, flew back towards him, settling deep inside.
Silence.
Lee coughed and said, "Was that too much?"
"TOO MUCH?!" Nayun ran over and grabbed Lee's shirt, excitement clear in her eyes. "TEACH ME! NOW!"
Yeonha immediately intercepted and pulled Nayun's hands off. Mostly because she saw Rachel's hand instinctively twitch towards her rapier. "That's enough, Nayun."
"BUT THE POTENTIAL!" Nayun looked at Lee with fervor in her eyes. "People kept telling me I was wasting my time switching to a bow instead of using a sword... but you saw that! It's like sword ki, but on an arrow!"
Rachel lowered her hand and glanced at Lee. Pursing her lips, she said, "I thought you said you lacked magic power?"
Nayun and Yeonha both paused.
Then Yeonha looked over and said, "That's true... No." Her eyes lit up in understanding. "...Interesting. Because you lack magic power, you have an easier time molding it, right? Then, if you somehow resolved your quantity issue..."
Nayun gasped. "Oh my GOD." She pointed at Lee and said, "Aren't you a hidden monster in disguise?! Yeonha! We HAVE to get him elixirs and things to get him more magic power!"
Yeonha looked thoughtful.
Rachel bristled and said, "...That is against Cube's policy."
Yeonha sighed. "...Regrettably so. And Nayun, Lee is Rank 999. If he improves too much too quickly, people will think something suspicious is happening."
"Ah... Darn." Nayun clicked her tongue. "...I kind of want to see how ridiculous he can get."
Lee raised his hand and said, "Uh. Do I not get a say in this?"
Nayun laughed and said, "You're getting offered a free ride with valuable elixirs and things and you're still protesting?"
"Yep." Lee seriously nodded. "I'm working on improving it slowly and steadily over time. It might take some years, but if I do it properly, then I'll be invincible."
It wasn't unfounded logic. And it wasn't boasting or hubris either.
Right now, the most that Lee could muster up was a single droplet of mana. What amounted to a thread roughly one foot long if he stretched it out.
That was already a deadly weapon since it amounted to unbreakable pianowire. That, or a monomolecular blade. And one that wouldn't be exhausted over time like Sword Ki or other mana based attacks would.
...In theory.
Lee was still workshopping it.